


July Structured Shorts Collection - TWD

by AvengerofSquids



Series: r/FanFiction Prompt Challenges [3]
Category: The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: /r/FanFiction Challenge, Awkward Daryl Dixon, Awkward Flirting, BAMF Beth Greene, Beth Greene Lives, Canon-Typical Violence, Carl can be a little shit sometimes but he's still a kid okay, Diary/Journal, F/M, Ficlet Collection, Gen, Head Injury, Hurt Carl Grimes, Hurt Daryl Dixon, Hurt Glenn Rhee, IKEA Furniture, Implied Sexual Content, Insecure Daryl Dixon, Kissing, M/M, Missing Scene, Multi, OT3, One Shot Collection, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Polyamory, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pre-Poly, Prison (Walking Dead), Prompt Fill, Protective Daryl Dixon, Season 2/3 Gap, Season 3/4 Gap, Season/Series 02, Season/Series 04, Season/Series 05, Sophia Peletier Lives, beth/daryl can be seen as platonic, glenn and daryl go hunting, reference to past sexual assault (not graphic)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:21:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 19,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25134553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvengerofSquids/pseuds/AvengerofSquids
Summary: A series of ficlets written in response to prompts from r/Fanfiction; will be uploading them in batches until the end of the month. Tags, rating, and summary are subject to change as I continue to write.Latest summary:Daryl squints down at Carl, trying to figure out what the kid's up to. "Somethin' wrong?"Carl shakes his head fast; too fast for Daryl's liking.The kid's definitely up to something..Carl might be mature for his age, but that doesn't mean he gets into any less trouble.
Relationships: Carl Grimes & Rick Grimes, Daryl Dixon & Carl Grimes, Daryl Dixon & Glenn Rhee, Daryl Dixon & Maggie Greene, Daryl Dixon & Sophia Peletier, Daryl Dixon/Beth Greene, Daryl Dixon/Glenn Rhee, Daryl Dixon/Maggie Greene/Glenn Rhee, Maggie Greene/Glenn Rhee
Series: r/FanFiction Prompt Challenges [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1449658
Comments: 44
Kudos: 56





	1. The Gunshot Club

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You're just jealous that I managed to get away with it. If you have a better story, then share it!"
> 
> Daryl scoffs, and Glenn realizes that trying to outmatch the guy in the 'crazy stuff I've done' department might not be the best idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: "Framing Devices! Famous examples include The Princess Bride, Citizen Kane, and The Canterbury Tales. This "story outside the story" is can be used to contextualize events, deliver important information to the audience, or link disparate events together. Today, let's think about how your canon or characters would be 'framed'. Who's telling this story and why? What do those hearing it think?"
> 
> This scene is set between season 2 and 3, while Team Family was struggling to survive through the winter. I figured there would have been plenty of happy bonding moments scattered through this time period. Daryl and Carl's friendship is always fun to see, especially when the kid was younger.

"-so I told her that my uncle likes to spell his last name differently than the rest of the family, y'know, just because there's no love lost there. She didn't buy it at first and I figured I was screwed, but I started spinning a whole family sob story, explaining that he loaned me the car so that I'd be able to keep working since mine was rear-ended, and I guess I did a good enough job because she let me go with a warning. And that, my friends, was how I kept from getting arrested for stealing a car."

Glenn leans back with a satisfied grin, swirling the last sip of beer around in his cup as he waits for the group to give its approval.

"Bullshit," Daryl grumbles, ignoring Lori's complaints about his language as he jabs a finger at Glenn, who pulls back just in time to avoid being poked in the eye. "You're an awful liar, no way she didn't call your bluff. I bet that cop was just at the end of her shift and decided it wouldn't be worth staying on the job longer to bring your ass in. It's that or you really leaned into the sob story angle and started crying so she wouldn't know what to do."

"Hey!" Okay, Glenn may have shed a few tears after being pulled over (purposefully! It was all part of the plan!) but that doesn't give Daryl the right to try and undermine his moment. "You're just jealous that I managed to get away with it. If you have a better story, then share it!"

Daryl scoffs, and Glenn realizes that trying to outmatch the guy in the 'crazy stuff I've done' department might not be the best idea. Having someone like Merle for a brother means he's probably ended up in loads of trouble, plus he's like ten years older than Glenn so it isn't really a fair matchup.

"Are you kiddin' me? You ever had to pick a fight with a pack of coyotes interested in stealing a bite from your deer? Been shot in the head because someone thought you were a walker after spending the whole day in the woods?"

There's silence for a minute before Carl leans around from where he was sitting next to Beth and says, "I've been shot!" The kid looks so damn proud of himself for having something in common with Daryl, and it probably has something to do with his case of hero worship for the distant hunter.

Lori makes a startled choking sound at the reminder, reaching over to shush Carl, but the kid keeps going. "I got shot _and_ it was worse than yours. I needed surgery and everything! Look, I even have a neat scar!" The kid tries to lift his shirt and show everyone but his mom stops him just in time.

Glenn can see Rick holding back a smile, and it doesn't take long for the cop to join in. "I was shot too, put me in a coma for a month. Guess that makes me the winner here." The man winks at his son and Carl beams at him. Lori looks like she might throw up.

"Yeah, you also had a shitload of painkillers in your system," Daryl says, leaning over to flick Carl's hat. "I'd say the kid had it worse. He's pretty damn tough."

Looking at Carl's face, you'd think Daryl had handed him the moon. "Really? I mean yeah, I'm pretty damn tough. I would've caught that deer if I hadn't been shot, too. Right, Dad? I was super close to it!"

Daryl chuckles. "Tell you what, kid, you manage to bag a deer and I'll personally teach you how to skin and gut it. Who knows, maybe I'll bring you out on a huntin' trip sometime."

This time, it takes Rick and Lori's combined efforts to calm the kid enough that he finishes his dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Daryl: And then one time I got so much poison ivy up my ass while chasing a raccoon that I-  
> Glenn: Oh my god I get it I'm wimpy okay please shut up  
> Daryl: . . .  
> Daryl: dID YOu knOw I onCe WREsTLeD A fUcKInG bear whEn I WaS just A cHiLd
> 
> Thanks for reading! If you have any questions or critiques, please feel free to leave them in the comments :)


	2. Beth's Journal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Hey, I know it's been a while."
> 
> A look inside Beth's journal as she reflects on her time spent with Daryl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: "Building on yesterday's prompt, write a scene as a non-fiction entry in an in-universe encyclopedia or history book equivalent. Include as many sarcastic footnotes as you wish."
> 
> Mild spoiler warning for Season 4! (No character deaths, but spoilers for some major plot points.)

_Hey, I know it's been a while; to be honest, I completely forgot you were in my pocket until we used some of your pages to help keep the fire going earlier. I haven't really had time to write, what with all the running Daryl and I have been doing, but since I'm supposed to be on bed rest I figured I might as well open you up again._

_I had really hoped the prison would be a good place, and I suppose it was for a while, but I guess things aren't meant to last anymore. Just because there are still good people left doesn't mean the bad ones are any less dangerous._

_I wonder if Rick found Judith, and if Maggie and Glenn made it out okay. I hope no one's alone; if I was alone, I don't think I would've made it. I don't know if I would've kept going even if I did get out of the prison._

_No, I would've kept looking for them. Maggie's looking for me, I know it, and with Daryl's help I'll be able to find them. Did you know he's teaching me how to track? I'm not great at it, but I was able to shoot a walker with his crossbow, even if I didn't manage to kill it. Soon I might be able to survive even without Daryl's help._

_Not that I'll ever have to, though; I know I've already said this, but if anyone's going to survive, it'll be him._

_Daryl Dixon is going to be the last man standing, I'm sure of it._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beth: I might be depressed but this glass is FUCKING STAYING HALF FULL OKAY  
> Daryl: damn i just was wondering how much water you wanted  
> Beth: oh :):) i still have some moonshine in my backpack don't worry about it :):)  
> Daryl: wtf
> 
> Thanks for reading! If you have any questions or critiques, please feel free to leave them in the comments :)
> 
> Beth's one of my favorite characters, I honestly relate to her in many ways. Sad that the show dropped her so suddenly.


	3. The First Attempt (Daryl/Glenn/Maggie)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It’s not my ass that should stay in one piece,” Daryl blurts out, before his ears suddenly redden.
> 
> .
> 
> Or, the moment when Glenn realizes something's up with Daryl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: "Prologues! For example, the Distant Prologue. Prologues provide important information at the beginning of the story in a way that's somehow separate to the main narrative, as in the one-off POVs used by George RR Martin in A Song of Ice and Fire. Not all stories need a prologue, but even if yours doesn't, this is an interesting opportunity to explore an event in your character's past, something which caused them to become involved in the story today... "
> 
> This is kinda a prologue scene for a fic series I'm working on featuring the Glenn/Daryl/Maggie polyship. Not 100% on this being how it would actually go but I can always change it later. Set during the Season 3/4 gap.

“Hey Glenn, come over here for a sec.”

Glenn looks up from where he’s sorting the ammo they’d just grabbed on their run. “What’s up? Still trying to figure out that wonky flashlight?”

The flashlight in question had been giving folks trouble all night, flickering out every few minutes and causing Carl to twist his ankle pretty bad when he was walking the fences. It’s the brightest one they have, but if Daryl can’t figure out how to fix it they’ll probably end up having to toss it.

“Nah, that thing’s busted. Tried working on it this morning but we’d have to take apart another one to fix it, and Rick decided it’s not worth it.” Daryl says, before tapping the paper he’s been studying. “I want you to take a look at this, see if you can help.”

“I’ll try.” Glenn moves closer, peering around Daryl to get a better look. It’s a map of the nearest town with a bunch of notes scribbled across it. “Not great with maps, though.”

“Doesn’t matter. Where do you think is the best place to look for some more food to tide us over until the garden’s ready? Carol and I’ve been debating over these two stores but we’re not sure which one’s more likely to not be raided already.” Daryl points out a grocery store and a convenience station on the map before pushing the paper over to Glenn.

Glenn hums, thinking this over for a minute. “I mean, grocery stores have more food but also get emptied out pretty quick. This convenience store is somewhat off the main road as well, probably hasn’t been picked over nearly as much. That’s a safer bet, although it won’t have nearly as much of a variety of food. Might not have much canned stuff either, but you could find some other supplies there as well.”

“Sounds good, I’ll let her know.” After folding the map up, Daryl stuffs it in his pocket and starts to walk away before Glenn stops him.

“Why’d you ask me about this? I’m not the one coming with you on this run, and normally you talk to Rick about this kind of stuff.” Glenn asks, pulling back from where he’d touched Daryl’s arm to get his attention.

Daryl turns and makes eye contact before glancing away. “You know this shit, don’t think I forgot all the supply runs you took care of in Atlanta. I know most everyone around here likes to forget it, but you’re smart and have good instincts. If you think the convenience store is our best shot, I trust your reasoning behind it.”

“Oh,” Glenn manages to say, ignoring the happy fluttering in his chest. Daryl’s always been a straightforward man, but he doesn’t tend to give out compliments easily, so to receive one like this from him is high praise indeed. “Thank you. Hey, you have good instincts too, you know. After all, you knew to ask me for help.”

He grins to let Daryl know he’s joking around, because sometimes the man doesn’t get that. “For real though, thank you. Be careful out there; your ass better make it back in one piece.”

“It’s not _my_ ass that should stay in one piece,” Daryl blurts out, before his ears suddenly redden and he seems to be surprised with what just came out of his mouth. “Not that—I mean, cuz you’re going to be on the fence and all, better not let a walker grab you. You know, because they do. Grab people, after all.”

Daryl clears his throat before turning away. “Need to let Carol know about the plans,” he grumbles, and is gone before Glenn can say anything.

_Huh. That was. . .interesting._

Glenn’s never seen Daryl flustered like that before, that’s for sure. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think the man was just blurting out the first response that came to mind and it just _happened_ to be about Glenn’s ass, but the way Daryl had said it, combined with his reaction and hasty retreat. . .

It almost seems like Daryl was trying to _compliment_ his ass. Like, in a flirty way, which is weird because Glenn’s never seen Daryl try to flirt with anyone. Also, Glenn’s married, and Daryl _knows_ that. So why did he do that?

Not that Glenn minded being flirted with; quite the opposite, actually. If he and Maggie hadn’t worked out, and if he hadn’t been so sure that Daryl was straight, he probably would have tried pursuing a relationship with the man.

There’s not much he can do to figure it out on his own. Maybe Maggie will be able to help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Daryl (panicking): i've never been to oover javer *yeets himself out of the situation*  
> Glenn: um what
> 
> Thanks for reading! If you have any questions or critiques, please feel free to leave them in the comments :)


	4. Our New Normal (Daryl/Glenn/Maggie)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I was not asking for details on your sex life, holy shit." Daryl speeds up, unable to keep the uncomfortable laugh from forcing its way out of his chest.
> 
> .
> 
> Daryl and Glenn have a bonding moment as they check Daryl's snares.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: "The opening of your story is where you showcase your characters’ “normal”. One of the popular ways of doing this is something like the Batman Cold Open, which demonstrates the skills of the main character. Tvtropes also has a team version! Show us one of your characters (or a bunch of them) using their skills, magical or mundane, in a normal situation."
> 
> I just keep making these way too long :) This one has swearing and discussions of someone's sex life, but nothing actually happens. Can be viewed as pre-polyship or platonic, whatever floats your boat. Set during the season 3/4 gap.

Hunting is the one thing that's stayed the same.

The world may have gone to shit, but when tracking a deer through the underbrush, it doesn't matter if you have a working phone or if there's a grocery store thirty minutes away. All you need is a weapon and your wits. A car makes the return trip a lot easier, but Daryl's managed without one plenty of times. The walkers add an extra challenge but aren't too difficult to avoid once you know what to look for; otherwise, tracking and hunting is somewhat of a calming experience.

Having an inexperienced guy crashing through the forest behind you kinda ruins the moment, though.

"Can you be any louder?" Daryl hisses for the third time, whipping around to jab a finger at Glenn. "You're supposed to be the sneaky one, how'd you even survive all those supply runs in Atlanta?"

"There aren't leaves and branches strewn across the city, being quiet there's a completely different game." Glenn bites back, sidestepping a pile of leaves only to end up stomping on another stick. "Shit, sorry. How are you able to slip through all of this? You're, like, huge compared to me."

Daryl's got maybe three inches on Glenn, if that, so he chooses to roll his eyes and ignore the comment. "You have to look where you're steppin', dumbass, can't flounce through here without a care in the world. Each step matters, so take a moment to think before you move. Just be glad we're only checkin' traps so I don't have to kick your ass for scaring everything away."

Glenn lets out a frustrated huff but turns his attention to the ground and seems to actually listen to Daryl's advice; the guy's still way too loud, but it's a start.

"Hey," Daryl says as he starts untangling a rabbit from one of his snares. "You're doin' better than Rick, at least. It's like the guy has two left feet; he can only be quiet if his life depends on it." That's not exactly true; Rick can be sneaky if he thinks things through, but he usually leaves anything stealthy to Daryl and charges in from the front. Eventually someone's going to have to curb his self-sacrificing tendencies, but that's not a job Daryl's willing to take on. The man's probably going to have to make that change for himself before Carl adopts too many of his habits.

Glenn smiles at that, though, so Daryl feels less shitty about snapping at him earlier. They usually get along pretty well, and he doesn't want to fuck that up by reacting instinctively. "Maggie can be pretty quiet too, when she wants to be. Maybe you should try bringing her along next time."

Daryl scoffs, hooking the rabbit to his belt and continuing forward. "No way in hell am I takin' the two of you anywhere together. Rather not spend half my day keepin' you two from making out against every tree you see."

"Oh my _god_ ," Glenn squawks, leaning over to shove at Daryl's arm. "We would _not_. It's not like we're hormonal teenagers or something, god. I know you guys tease us a lot, but c'mon, we're not gonna try to have sex when we're supposed to be working!"

"You're newlyweds, it's practically the same thing. 'sides, I've walked in on you two in the watchtower enough times to disagree," Daryl grumbles, easily dodging Glenn's next swat. "I know it's awkward, what with your cell bein' right next to her dad's and all that, but you could at least _try_ to find somewhere a little more private."

Glenn actually whines at that, scrubbing a hand against his face. "It's not like there's many places for us to get some privacy, and besides, it's not like we're together in the watchtower when one of us is supposed to be on watch. We've tried the showers, but it's kinda hard to really get-"

"I was not asking for details on your sex life, holy _shit_." Daryl speeds up, unable to keep the uncomfortable laugh from forcing its way out of his chest. "Just sayin' you need to be more careful before someone like Carl walks in and you traumatize him for life, is all."

Glenn whispers something inaudible, and Daryl pauses to glance back at him. "What's that?"

"I said, it's too late for that." Looking at Glenn, you'd think he just admitted to stabbing the kid, not being walked in on during sex, and Daryl can't help barking out a real laugh. "It's not funny!"

"It really isn't, imagine how Rick's gonna react once Carl tells him." Daryl says, quicking his pace again as Glenn starts quietly panicking behind him. "Get your ass in gear, we still have quite a few traps to check."

Daryl could get used to this new normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Glenn: *casually brings up his sex life*  
> Daryl: oh god oh fuck
> 
> Thanks for reading! If you have any questions or critiques, please feel free to leave them in the comments :)
> 
> I am going to bring this polyship to life if it kills me lol.


	5. Time Limit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The size of the cut doesn't matter. If a walker breaks your skin, you're dead. _Shit._
> 
> .
> 
> Things go south for Carl during a supply run.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: "Architecture: Leaning Tower of Pisa. The tower leans due to unstable foundations, but this mistake is what makes it so famous. Let’s change something small but fundamental about your story’s setting and explore what ramifications that change has. Alternatively, show an equally fortuitous mistake in your own story!"
> 
> Man, I cannot keep my fics anywhere near the recommended word count. This is set somewhere during season 5 but doesn't have any spoilers.

"Carl, behind you!"

Carl twists around, just barely managing to pull out of the walker's grasp. He fires his Beretta twice, hitting it once in the neck before managing a clean kill shot, and it crumples to the ground with a quiet hiss. Carl takes a few steps back, keeping his pistol trained on the walker, but it doesn't try to get back up.

He can see his dad rushing over from the other side of the store, but he ignores him for the time being and focuses on making sure nothing else is sneaking up on him. Daryl's stabbing a crawling walker in the brain and Maggie's got her gun trained on the door; everyone else has started packing up supplies, so he figures the rest of the walkers have been taken care of.

"You can't charge ahead like that, Carl, stick with the group!" Rick snaps, stepping into Carl's line of sight. "You could have been bit, and you had to fire your gun; if there had been any other walkers hidden behind these shelves, they would have swarmed you before we could do anything."

"I _know_ , Dad. Just couldn't get to my knife in time." He hates it when his dad scolds him in front of the whole group; he made a stupid mistake, he _gets_ that, but why does Rick feel the need to let the whole world know he fucked up?

"Next time, have your knife at the ready. You should've had that drawn instead of your gun." Rick turns and gestures at Daryl. "Join Maggie at the door, make sure we don't have any company."

Carl turns and heads deeper into the store, sidestepping the overturned shelves as he makes his way towards the canned goods. Glenn's already there, but he doesn't comment on Carl's screwup, just steps aside so they can both work at the same time.

After a few minutes, the adrenaline from the near-miss has faded enough that Carl notices a burning ache spreading across his left forearm. His sleeve doesn't look torn, but there's blood on it that wasn't there a few minutes ago.

_The walker had blood on its hands. It must have smeared some on me when it grabbed me, that's all._

Still, Carl waits until Glenn's out of sight before rolling up his sleeve. The fabric sticks to his arm and he can't help gasping at the sudden spike of pain that follows.

He's bleeding. It's slow, would probably have stopped oozing already if he hadn't messed with it, but the size of the cut doesn't matter. If a walker breaks your skin, you're dead.

 _Shit_.

Maybe they can amputate his arm; they've done it before, and he'd rather be missing a limb than dead. If they do it soon, the infection could be stopped before it has time to spread through his system.

Carl opens his mouth, turning to call for his dad, when he pauses, taking a closer look at the wound. It doesn't look right; it's too clean, too deep to have been from such a quick scratch. The walker hadn't grabbed him for more than a second and should have left a jagged, shallow tear in his skin, not something that looks more like a knife wound than anything else. His sleeve isn't torn either, which doesn't make sense, because the walker should have ripped it if it had grabbed him hard enough to break the skin.

Had he gotten cut earlier? They'd been weaving through broken cars all day, and Abraham had gotten a similar scrape on his neck while skirting around a wreck. It's entirely possible, and the more Carl thinks about it, the more likely it seems.

The problem is that there's no way he can be entirely sure. If he tells anyone about what happened, they might insist on amputating his arm just to be safe, even if it turned out to be a harmless scratch. On the other hand, if he doesn't take action now, they might end up being too late to stop the infection.

"Carl? You good?"

Carl tugs his sleeve back down, shooting a quick smile in Glenn's direction. "Yeah. How do you feel about canned beets? From the looks of it, the last group had very strong feelings about them."

Glenn lets out a quiet laugh. "Won't do any harm to take them; just because we think they're gross doesn't mean someone else won't like them. Once you grab those, meet us at the front of the store. It's time to go."

Carl stuffs his backpack full of cans until it's nearly bursting before hurrying to join the rest of the group.

_I'll tell them once we get back to camp_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Carl: I need to tell someone about this before I fucking die  
> Carl: . . .  
> Carl: heY GLeNn How do YOU fEel aboUT BEeTs
> 
> Thanks for reading! If you have any questions or critiques, please feel free to leave them in the comments :)
> 
> For now, it's up to the reader to decide how this ends, but if one of the prompts fits I hope to continue it!


	6. That's My Name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At first, Daryl thinks Judith's just babbling, but when she repeats herself and stretches her arms towards Rick he puts it together pretty quickly. The kid's talking.
> 
> "Holy shit."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: A character's first memory
> 
> Chose to go with first words instead since I couldn't think of anything.

Dinnertime at the Grimes' is an exciting venture.

Judith is always on the move now, tottering around the house and trying to explore everything around her with her hands and mouth. She's developed a strong dislike for being strapped into any kind of baby seat, smacking her fists against the tray and shrieking half-words until Rick finally gives in and balances her on his hip while he finishes preparing dinner. It doesn't take long for her to grow bored of messing with the buttons in his shirt, and Carl has to take over after she manages to stick her hand into the bowl of spaghetti sauce.

Daryl listens to the two of them with half an ear as he slices up the cooked deer meat to mix in with the sauce. Judith's leading Carl around the living room, grabbing things and passing them to Carl as he tells her what they are. Daryl's pretty sure the toddler already knows what a book is, but she's clearly enjoying herself and Carl doesn't seem to mind explaining things to her even though he's probably done this dozens of times.

"Dadadada! Da!"

Rick and Daryl both glance over at the loud shriek. At first, Daryl thinks the kid's just babbling, but when she repeats herself and stretches her arms towards Rick he puts it together pretty quickly. The kid's _talking_.

"Holy shit," Daryl hisses, staring at the girl with wide eyes as Rick laughs and scoops her into his arms. "I'm not the only one who heard that, right?"

Rick grins around his daughter's hand--she's doing her best to stick it into his mouth but eventually settles on just grabbing at his beard--and reaches over to clap Daryl on the shoulder. "We couldn't wait to tell you, but Carl said we should let her surprise you. It's like a floodgate; she said 'mama' last night and now it's like she can't stop figuring out new words to say."

Judith sticks her fist into her mouth and mumbles as she chews on it, still tugging on Rick's beard. Rick finally stops her when she tries to grab him with her slobbery hand, passing her back to Carl as Daryl takes a laugh at his expense. Yeah, kids can be great, but they're also gross as hell.

Carl pulls a face but doesn't stop his sister from tugging at his hair. "We're pretty sure she said my name earlier, but she talks so fast it's kinda hard to tell. Can you say my name, Judy? Can you say Carl?" Judith giggles and starts poking at his mouth, fussing when Carl stops her. "We'll get there."

"Duh, da, dar, dah." Judith squirms, twisting in her brother's grasp to stare at Rick and Daryl. "Duh!"

"You want Rick? You want Dada?" Carl tries passing her back to Rick, but Judith whines, smacking at his hands before reaching her arms up to Daryl. "Dar!"

 _Oh my god_. "Is that my name? You tryin' ta say Daryl?" Daryl picks her up and she lets out a happy shriek, patting his cheek with her sticky hand before grabbing at his nose. He laughs and she blows a spit bubble directly into his face. "That's gross as shit."

"Language." Rick scolds. "She'll be able to pick that up soon enough."

"You gonna have a sailor mouth, Little Asskicker? Is that how it's gonna go?" Judith runs her hands along his neck, and Daryl winces at how cold and slimy her hands are. "Okay, go terrorize your father. I have to finish dinner."

Judith starts helping, of course, and they all end up with spaghetti sauce smeared on their faces; even Michonne--who walked through the door right as things were wrapping up--wasn't quick enough to avoid a messy handprint on her forehead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Judith: ohhh ohhh  
> Rick: oh goodness :) what's her next word gonna be :)  
> Judith: oh mah gawd i love chipotle  
> Carl: :) chipotle is mah life  
> Rick: wtf
> 
> Thanks for reading! If you have any questions or critiques, please feel free to leave them in the comments :)


	7. Shoelaces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daryl was almost like a feral wolf, lurking at the edge of camp and snarling at anyone who approached. Sure, you could try your hand at taming him, but one wrong move and you end up with your throat ripped out. 
> 
> If people had looked more closely, they might have noticed that there were two folks that this didn't apply to.
> 
> .
> 
> Or, the moment when Carol realizes she was wrong about Daryl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompts: "Everyone Meets Everyone! The main characters of the story all come to meet each other for the first time, sometimes told as a flashback. Write that meeting from one character's perspective, and then another. What different impressions do they come away with?" and "Establishing Character Moment. As a follow up to yesterday's prompt, pick one of your characters and start a scene in a way which totally encapsulates the key features of their character."
> 
> Goodness, I keep making these too long. That's why I'm going to be combining a few prompts, otherwise I might never catch up :) This is a Season 2 AU where Sophia lives. I might write more in this AU because Character!Lives AUs have so much potential and I love them.

When Daryl first joined the group, everyone labeled him as "that redneck asshole that we put up with since he's a good hunter" in their mind without a second thought. He and his brother Merle were a package deal, and since Merle was a racist jerk who couldn't seem to keep his nose out of a fight, it wasn't much of a stretch to assume that Daryl would behave the same.

Nobody paid much attention to the fact that Daryl was quiet where his brother was loud or that Daryl often reigned Merle in when he caused too much of a fuss; sure, it became clear that he wasn't a problem like Merle was, but those two grew up under the same roof. There's no way Daryl didn't agree with the crap his brother spouted, even if he didn't really join in.

When Merle was left behind in Atlanta, Daryl became somewhat of a walking contradiction. Most of the time, he was withdrawn from the rest of the group, sometimes going days without making a sound; when pushed--which was pretty easy to do, even accidentally--he would explode, lashing out with his words and occasionally his fists until everyone backed off. He rarely started fights, but when one happened, he always made sure he wasn't the only one nursing wounds.

If people had looked more closely, they might have noticed that there were two folks that this endless cycle didn't apply to. That there were two people that Daryl didn't constantly avoid or get into fights with. But since everyone was busy with their own drama--or someone else's, once things with Shane started to get a bit out of hand--no one paid Daryl much attention as he stuck by the outskirts of the camp, keeping his nose clean and out of everyone's business.

No one, that is, except for Carol.

To be fair, it took some time for her to notice anything. She had stopped avoiding Daryl once he and Rick had fished Sophia from the river and brought her back safe, but that didn't mean she spent much time with him. He was eager to keep his distance from the group, and she wasn't interested in toeing the line and ending up on the wrong side of his anger. He was almost like a feral wolf, lurking at the edge of camp and snarling at anyone who approached. Sure, you could try your hand at taming him, but one wrong move and you end up with your throat ripped out.

Safe to say, Carol was quite surprised when she spotted Sophia making her way across the campsite to Daryl's tent after dinner.

Carol stood, intending to stop Sophia before she got herself into trouble, but paused when Carl joined her. They were clearly trying to be stealthy, and it seemed like no one else had noticed what they were up to, but Carol knew that they wouldn't be able to sneak up on Daryl even if he was asleep. Sophia was soft-footed and knew how to make her way around a house without disturbing anyone, but Carl's ability to remain quiet left a lot to be desired. Even now, Carol could see him covering his mouth as he tried to muffle his own giggles, only able to keep it together after Sophia hushed him a few times.

Carol was glad to see Sophia making friends with Carl--she'd always had trouble getting along with other kids her age, preferring to stick around her mom even though that meant hanging around the grownups all the time--but she was beginning to worry that Carl was starting to be a bad influence on her daughter. It was normal for Sophia to do little acts of rebellion, especially now that Ed was gone, but something like bothering one of the surliest men in the camp because she was bored was something that Sophia knew better than to try. Daryl was the most volatile member of the group after Shane, but at least the cop had a soft spot for Carl. Carol was pretty sure any soft spots Daryl had must have vanished with his brother.

 _I'd better put a stop to this,_ Carol decided, weaving her way through the camp as she did her best to catch up to the two pre-teens. She didn't think Daryl would hurt them--they're just kids, after all, and he's proven to have at least some patience when it came to Carl's antics--but he could still be vicious even without using his fists and Carol would rather avoid any kind of confrontation with the man they're all depending on for meat. Best to avoid pissing him off.

"Sophia!" Carol hissed, trying to call her daughter over without waking Daryl. The kids had just about reached his tent, which was down the hill from the rest of the camp, and Carol knew there was no way for her to reach them before they put their plan into action. _Shit_.

Glancing around, Carol realized that no one else had noticed the situation. Daryl's tent was set up further down the hill, mostly out of sight from the rest of the camp, which meant that unless you were making your way towards his spot, it was only really visible to whoever was on watch. Andrea (who was currently on watch) had no reason to glance over there unless she heard something, since Daryl had made it pretty clear that he could take care of himself, and Lori clearly hadn't noticed that her son had wandered off again. This meant that if Carol wanted to find someone to help intervene, she'd have to spend several minutes making her way back to camp and grabbing someone who wasn't busy, and by the time she finished that things would have already wrapped up by Daryl's tent.

Steeling herself, Carol continued down the hill, deciding to take the blame for her daughter's actions. She could handle whatever fierce rebuke Daryl throws her way; not to say that Sophia couldn't, but she shouldn't have to.

Sophia and Carl nudged at each other, Carl gesturing with his hands while Sophia hissed at him, before she finally gave in and knocked on the tent flap as best she could. She and Carl moved to stand shoulder-to-shoulder, their stances determined, but Sophia's fluttering hands betrayed her nerves.

 _Oh, honey, what are you doing?_ Carol wanted to say, but she was still too far away to call to her daughter without being loud enough to disturb the camp. If she shouted Sophia's name, everyone would think something was wrong and rush over with their guns ready, which would only upset Daryl and possibly get them in trouble for causing a scene. Still, she was close enough to listen in and intervene if need be, which was more than anyone else was doing, so she decided to stay put and keep an eye on them. If things went south, she should have time to defuse the situation and take her daughter's place if necessary.

"What the hell is it? I already agreed to take watch in the mornin'." Sophia danced back a couple of steps at Daryl's harsh bark, inadvertently dragging Carl with her as she hooked her fingers into his sleeve. Carl shook her off, stepping up to the tent and knocking on it again.

"It's just us. Me and Sophia, I mean. You said it was fine if we came over?" Carl said. Carol couldn't help the jolt of surprise that ran through her, because why would Daryl invite them to his tent?

The tent flap unzipped in one fluid motion; Daryl took a step out and squinted down at the kids. "Said I would help you out, didn't say nothin' about inviting you to my place. 'sides, don't you have chores to do?"

"Already done!" Carl blurted out, elbowing Sophia until she gave a faint nod in agreement. Carol knew for a fact that Carl's chores _weren't_ done, but Daryl must have believed them since he didn't question Carl any further.

Daryl gestured for the kids to sit by his makeshift firepit before disappearing inside his tent. Carl plopped down easily, fidgeting with his hat as he waited, but Sophia elected to stand and keep an eye on the tent.

It didn't take long for Daryl to emerge, holding three ropes of different lengths in his hands as he sat down across from them. "You kids been practicing or not?"

"I borrowed some old shoelaces from Beth," Sophia piped up, pulling them from her pocket and holding them up. "Shared them with Carl."

Daryl studied the laces before giving an approving nod. "Good job linking them with the square knot, looks like you've gotten the hang of that one. Here, catch." He tossed a rope to each of the kids, then got to work untangling his own. "Next time, you guys are untying these when you're done, cuz it's a pain in the ass when you leave it overnight. Anyways, this here's a clove hitch, you can use it to tie a rope to just about anything. See how I'm loopin' it around. . ."

Carol decided to leave them to it; clearly she had been reading the situation wrong from the start, and it looked like Daryl had things handled. If he wanted to teach Sophia survival skills, Carol sure wasn't going to stop him.

She made her way back up the hill, glancing back once to find Daryl giving her an almost nervous look, like he was worried she'd storm over and put a stop to what he was doing. Smiling, she gave him a little wave before returning back to camp. His secret was safe with her; if he didn't want the rest of the group to know he was helping out with the kids, she wouldn't ruin that for him. He had a reputation to uphold, so it figures he'd be embarrassed about his soft spot for them.

Thinking back on her earlier assessment of the man, Carol's decided she was wrong. Daryl wasn't a wolf; he was more like a bear. A grumpy one, to be sure, and not someone to be messed with. However, if he'd taken a shine to Sophia, Carol wasn't going to take any efforts to dissuade that. If his loyalty to his brother was any indication, he had a protective streak that rivaled any mama grizzly guarding her cubs, and it would be wonderful if he decided to help keep Sophia safe.

 _Maybe I should make more of an effort to get to know him,_ Carol thought. _After all, he's already proven me wrong once; I should actually spend some time with him before assuming things._

Her mind made up, Carol decided to come up with a plan to befriend the elusive Daryl Dixon. How hard could it be?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *ten months later*  
> Daryl: Next lesson is how to kill a man  
> Carol: It's simple really :) Lots of different ways tbh :)  
> Daryl: . . .  
> Carol: Not that I've had any practice of course
> 
> Thanks for reading! If you have any questions or critiques, please feel free to leave them in the comments :) 
> 
> This is one I'd definitely love to explore more in the future.


	8. Out of Habit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At this point, Glenn's pretty sure Daryl's just an asshole out of habit. He almost feels bad for the guy, but at the same time he's kinda being a jerk to Maggie, and Glenn's pretty sure he has an obligation to defend her honor or something like that.
> 
> That's how Glenn ended up tailing Daryl throughout the prison.
> 
> .
> 
> Glenn tries to confront Daryl about his behavior. It doesn't go well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompts: "More on characters! A person’s titles/labels often give structure to their lives. Explore what others call this character (boss/friend/parent/enemy/etc.) or what they call themselves." and "Architecture: Temple of Kukulcan/El Castillo at Chichen Itza. With clever use of shadows, around the spring and autumn equinoxes this Mayan temple creates the illusion of the feathered serpent god Kukulcan descending down the pyramid. Write about an illusion in your story today as well. This can be an optical illusion like at the Temple of Kukulcan, or a more metaphorical pulling of wool over someone’s eyes. "
> 
> Wasn't quite sure where I was going with this, but it's finished. Wish we had gotten to see more interactions between Glenn and Daryl in the show (I'm gonna say that about every character, aren't I) so I wrote it myself. Set within the first month of the Season 3/4 gap, takes place before any of the previous ficlets in this collection set during the same gap.

At this point, Glenn's pretty sure Daryl's just an asshole out of habit.

Over the past few weeks, Glenn's noticed all these little moments where Daryl will be having a nice conversation with someone before seeming to realize something. Apparently that realization must be _I have to maintain my badass lone wolf image_ , because after that little lightbulb goes off in his brain he'll tense up before snapping some random insult and retreating, effectively ruining the moment.

Glenn almost feels bad for the guy, because he's clearly trying so hard to seem like someone he really isn't. To be fair, when Daryl had first joined the group, Glenn had been terrified of getting on his bad side because he could probably beat Glenn in a fight even with every possible handicap, but the guy's proven time and time again that he's actually kind of a softie. A softie who can carry a full-grown deer on his shoulder and has probably killed more walkers than the rest of the group combined, sure, but a softie nonetheless.

Not that Glenn would say that to his face. Just because they're sorta-friends doesn't mean Glenn's going to purposefully antagonize the guy; again, Daryl is super-freakin'-ripped and would have no trouble kicking Glenn's ass.

Anyways, Glenn started thinking about this because Daryl had just finished a conversation with Maggie and--surprise surprise--gone through his normal routine before darting off. One the one hand, Glenn understands why Daryl would be nervous around Maggie (because she's quite literally the most awesome and badass person there is), but on the other hand he's _pretty_ sure he has an obligation to defend her honor or something like that. She didn't seem at all offended by Daryl's actions, but still, that's Glenn's _wife_. He's supposed to confront people who are being jerks to her, because she just spent the whole day stabbing walkers and keeping everyone here safe and the least Daryl could do was _not_ be rude to her.

So that's how Glenn ended up tailing Daryl throughout the prison.

Daryl obviously knows Glenn's following him--every few minutes he'll glance over his shoulder and scowl when they make eye contact--and Glenn's pretty sure he's leading them to a secluded area behind the prison on purpose. Fewer witnesses, more places to hide a body, y'know, all the reasons to have an important conversation in private. Glenn's tried catching up to Daryl just to explain what's going on, but the guy's slippery and clearly wants to settle this on his own turf. The fact that he's already getting defensive isn't a good sign, but Glenn's going to be an optimist and say that this chat's gonna go swimmingly.

They end up behind the shed where the spare water tanks are stored and Daryl immediately rounds on Glenn, who jolts back and yelps when his shoulder connects with a support beam. Daryl pauses, gaze flickering as he processes Glenn's startled reaction, before his glare returns. "The fuck are you followin' me around for? Don't you have better things to do?"

Glenn lowers his arms--which he'd instinctively raised when Daryl had gone for him like that--and plants his feet. "We need to talk."

Daryl squints at him for a moment, clearly reading _something_ in Glenn's body language that he doesn't like, before he snorts and turns away slightly. "No we don't."

"Um, ex _cuse_ me, we actually do. Since no one else is going to say anything, I've gotta." Glenn figures he'd seem a bit more commanding if his back wasn't pressed to a wall, but he's not _quite_ willing to step within Daryl's reach. He's reckless, not stupid.

Daryl's angled his body back towards Glenn, and the tension in his bare shoulders is practically an alarm wailing _red alert, tread with caution._ "Say what, exactly?"

"You need to quit acting like an asshole to people who are just being nice."

Glenn immediately knows he could have worded that a _lot_ better, but if he's gonna go for it he supposes he might as well go all the way. Daryl's clearly shocked, staring at Glenn like he'd confessed to setting a barn on fire, but his confused expression quickly flips to a scowl and he surges forward.

"Shit!" Glenn throws himself to the side, mind whirling as he tries to figure out if he should throw a punch or make a break for it, but that all stutters to a halt when he realizes that Daryl isn't coming after him. The guy's standing where Glenn was, body wound up so tight he's almost shaking while he works his jaw like he's considering biting someone, but he's not going for Glenn.

Daryl snarls, jerking his head at Glenn in a rough movement. "Keep your nose in your own business, if someone has a problem they can settle it with me without you needin' to get involved."

"Yeah, this _is_ my business. Everyone here's part of my family now, and even if they weren't, you've been snapping at my wife the same as everyone else."

As soon as Glenn mentions Maggie, Daryl seems to stiffen even more, his gaze darting away before returning to Glenn with even more intensity. "Like I said, she's plenty capable of confrontin' me herself without needing you to be her knight in shining armor."

"I'm not- she- look, man." Glenn runs a hand through his hair, trying to make himself relax. "I went about this wrong. I'm not trying to pick a fight, but I can't just _not_ say anything. Sorry, though; I could've made that a bit more clear. What, did you think I was gonna jump you or something?" Glenn lets out a little laugh to let Daryl know he's joking, but if his blank expression is anything to go off of, Daryl had indeed thought that's what Glenn had been planning.

Clearing his throat, Glenn continues, "Anways, this group's kinda my family now, and I'd like to think you're a part of that. We all care about you even when you're acting like a dick, but that doesn't mean we like being snapped at just because you're trying to maintain your lone wolf persona. You're one of us now, you don't need to act like that all the time."

"Ain't trying to keep up some sort of image," Daryl growls, shifting his weight back, and Glenn wonders if he's gonna try and leave the conversation early. "If that's what y'all wanna believe, though, then go ahead."

"Okay, wait, then what is the problem? Why do you-" Glenn begins, before jumping back when Daryl shoulders past him. "Hey!"

"I'd say it's none of your fuckin' business," Daryl hisses over his shoulder as Glenn scurries after him. "But you're not going to quit bothering me about this, so I'm going to remind you that just because we're stuck together doesn't mean we're some big fucking family. You folks can play house all you want, but leave me out of it. I don't care what you do."

"I'm calling bullshit. Keep your distance all you want, but I know for a fact that you do care about us. Whatever's holding you back, we can deal with that, you just have to talk to us."

"Just because I keep you guys from being eaten alive doesn't mean I give a shit about your personal lives. I'm here to stay alive, not roast marshmallows and sing over an open fire as we all join hands." Daryl's slowed down, and Glenn takes the chance to move closer. "I'm not like the rest of you."

"You are, though. You have a place here." Glenn tries. "And don't try and fool me into thinking you're completely detached from the rest of us, when Sophia-"

Daryl whips around and shoves Glenn, nearly knocking him over, before getting right up in his face. "You'd better shut it." He bites out, his voice low and dangerous. "I looked for her because no one else would. I didn't do it for _you_ , or for the group, or even Carol. Don't act like you _know_ me just because you think you understand what's going on inside my brain."

Glenn's never seen Daryl be quiet with his anger like this, and it's setting off every single alarm in his head. _Back up, get out._ He slowly lifts his hands, making sure Daryl tracks the movement and knows it isn't aggressive before he starts inching away. "Okay, I get it, I've overstepped. You know how I am, always needing to put my foot in my mouth, don't take it personally."

Daryl scowls and lunges forward again, fisting a hand in Glenn's shirt and shoving him against the wall, leaning forward when Glenn yelps and scrabbles at his arm. "I mean it. Keep your nose in your own business and back off."

As soon as Daryl releases him, Glenn makes a hasty retreat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Glenn any time Daryl looks at him for the next month: holy shit this is it i'm gonna die today
> 
> Thanks for reading! If you have any questions or critiques, please feel free to leave them in the comments :)


	9. Not an Option

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Take the bike. It's a forty-five-minute drive; you can make it there and back with a car and some backup in two hours while I hole up here," Daryl says.
> 
> "Leaving you behind's not an option," Maggie hisses back, before moving to try the handles of the abandoned car.
> 
> .
> 
> Daryl and Maggie investigate signs of a dangerous group. Things go south pretty quickly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompts: "Skeleton! A structure that's literally life or death. Mostly death, if we're being honest, but 'skeleton' has also come to metaphorically mean the basic framework or structure of something. Explore the symbolism of the skeleton in your work today." and " In Media Res, starting the story in the middle before showing the real beginning of the plot. Throw your audience in at the deep end by starting in the middle of a scene and seeing how much of the events leading up to it you can show only through context."
> 
> Can be viewed as platonic or romantic. Set sometime after season seven but the timeline isn't super important. This one's a bit more graphic than the others so just keep that in mind. Daryl and Maggie are also a team that deserved more attention in the show.

"Oh god."

Daryl glances over his shoulder at Maggie's whisper, frowning when he realizes her steps have faltered behind him. She tries to school her expression when she notices him staring but her distress is clear.

"Ain't nothing we haven't seen before," Daryl mumbles, but the uneasy clench in his chest only curls tighter as he surveys the carnage around them.

He's seen plenty of disgusting walkers, watched people being torn apart in front of him--hell, he's even dealt with cannibals--but somehow, none of those hit quite the same way as this.

Probably a dozen folks are scattered in pieces across the parking lot, their bodies baking in the heat. Even so, it's clear that they were human when they were killed, and they've all been stabbed in the head so they wouldn't turn. The words "WE'VE OVERCOME, BE WARNED" are painted in dried blood on the pavement. Smears of blood and viscera make a clear trail leading to another couple of bodies piled out of sight behind a car.

Somebody took the time to remove all their hands and line them up on the hood of the car before writing the same message on the trunk.

From each lampost hangs a snarling walker, reaching for them with outstretched arms even as they choke on their own groans. Daryl considers putting them out of their misery, but he doesn't have the ammo to spare.

Maggie seems to be more focused on the hanging walkers than anything else, but she's still keeping an eye out for danger so Daryl trusts her to keep watch as he does his best to investigate.

"These have to be the guys they were talking about, right?" Maggie asks as she circles the perimeter. "They have to be, otherwise that'd mean we have two dangerous groups running around."

"It matches the previous site we found, even if this one's quite a bit more. . .elaborate." Daryl rolls one of the bodies over and studies it. "This happened yesterday, maybe even this morning. Hard to tell since the heat's sped everything up."

"Shit. We shouldn't hang around, then; they could still be close by." There's a clatter from behind the store and Maggie whips around, gun raised as she scans for a threat. Daryl follows suit, his crossbow ready to fire as he glances around.

"Could be a critter," He hisses when there's no sign of any movement. "If it was a walker it'd be on it's way over by now."

"Don't wanna risk it." Maggie lowers her gun slightly, taking a step back towards Daryl's bike. "Who knows how- Daryl!"

Daryl throws himself to the side at her shout, taking aim with his crossbow as soon as he spots the approaching figure, but his shot goes wide when his right shoulder explodes with pain. He cries out, struggling to regain the breath that was practically punched from his lungs, and fumbles his crossbow before falling to his knees. His head clips against the pavement and he swears, unable to right himself as his vision pulses in time with the burning in his shoulder.

The sound of the gunshot hasn't even finished ringing out before Maggie returns fire, ducking behind the car; Daryl knows he needs to help but can't even lift his crossbow, let alone fire it.

Between one heartbeat and the next, the world fades.

.

When Paul offhandedly mentioned a small enemy group causing trouble, Daryl jumped at the chance to get out. Since the number of walkers in the area was steadily increasing, Rick had insisted that Daryl take a break from hunting until things settled down, so he hadn't been able to go anywhere for at least a week. As wonderful as his family is, Daryl needed to get away from people, so he eagerly volunteered to check the threat out.

Since he wasn't allowed to head out on his own and Carol needed to stay behind and help keep an eye on things, Daryl decided to bring Maggie along. She was a capable fighter and had good instincts; he trusted her to watch his back in case things went south.

"Tell me the details." Maggie was already waiting at the gate by the time Daryl pulled up with his motorcycle, and she hopped on behind him without being prompted. "There's a dangerous group of folks about fifteen miles east?"

"Yep. Supposedly they've been killing people and leaving threatening messages. They haven't targeted us specifically, but we need to make sure that area's safe before we can send anyone there to get supplies." Daryl revved the engine. "We're just checkin' things out, but if our information's correct, there shouldn't actually be that many of them. You ready?"

Maggie looped her arms around his waist. "Good to go." He could hear the smile in her voice; seemed she was just as glad to get out as he was.

"Hold on tight," Daryl warned, before speeding out the gate. So long as things went according to plan, they'd be back in time for dinner. Besides, even if there was a problem, they'd be able to handle it; after all, they've faced larger groups than this before under worse circumstances.

_Shouldn't be any trouble._

.

"Damnit, Daryl, look at me!"

The world spins as Daryl pulls away from whoever's shaking him, squinting at her just long enough to catch a glimpse of brown hair before he leans over and vomits. It's mostly bile, but the sudden movement jars his shoulder and brings him back to awareness.

"Shit." Daryl reaches for his crossbow, hooking his fingers on the strap and dragging it onto his lap. " _Shit_ , Maggie, what-"

"Hey, shh." Maggie straightens from where she's kneeling in front of him, glancing around before returning her focus back to him. "There were two guys, I took care of them but there's a group of walkers not too far off so we need to be quiet. How bad's your shoulder?"

Daryl tries to move his right arm and has to bite back a groan at the fresh wave of pain. His arm's already tacky with drying blood, but the flow's clearly slowed down so at least he doesn't seem to be at risk for bleeding out. Maggie's holding a bloodstained strip of fabric in her hand, so she probably had some part in stemming the blood loss. "I was shot?"

"Yeah. Looks like it passed clean through, but you've been in and out of it for the past couple of minutes. I need you to stay awake because your blood's going to attract walkers and if you pass out again I don't think I'll be able to carry you." Maggie starts wrapping more cloth around Daryl's arm and he can't help cursing at her. "I don't think you're going to be able to stay on the bike, Daryl."

"I can-" Daryl lurches to his feet; Maggie grabs a hold of his left arm and manages to keep him from toppling over, but it's a near thing. He's panting, fingers clenched so tightly around his crossbow he's surprised he hasn't cut himself on the metal. "Shit."

Maggie's worried--the tension in her body would be clear even if he wasn't leaning on her--but her expression makes it obvious she's slipped into that slightly detached mentality that Glenn used to call 'doctor mode.' She gives him another once-over, then releases him and steps back. Daryl's able to keep upright, and even manages a few steps when she asks him to try and walk, but his balance is shot.

"You know how to drive a bike?" Daryl asks. Maggie makes a so-so motion with her hand and Daryl sighs. "Even if I didn't fall off, I'd probably end up tipping the bike over. It's a forty-five-minute drive; you can make it there and back with a car and some backup in two hours while I hole up here."

"Leaving you behind's not an option," Maggie hisses, moving to try the handles of the abandoned car. "Let me know if those walkers head this way; I'm gonna try to get this car started."

"I can stay alive for two hours, there's no point putting us both at risk in order to get me home a bit sooner," Daryl tries, splitting his focus between the small herd and Maggie. "It's the best option."

"I'm not losing anyone else!" Maggie whirls around and gestures at Daryl. "Nearly everyone I care about is gone, I'm not leaving you behind. I know better than to do that. If I leave, you're going to get killed."

"You don't know that."

"I do. When I wasn't able to protect someone, when I couldn't fight or we got split up, they died." Maggie starts working on the car again with an almost vicious energy. "Not gonna let that happen again."

She manages to pop the door open and leans inside, searching for keys while Daryl keeps watch. When she doesn't find any, she tries hotwiring the car without any success. "Damn it."

"Let me take a look under the hood." Daryl moves to the front of the car, using his crossbow to knock the severed hands out of the way before popping the hood open. Messing with the starter yields no results, but after he adjusts the battery terminals Maggie's able to get the engine running.

"We don't have much gas but it should be enough to get back," Maggie says when Daryl climbs into the passenger seat. "Someone can come back for the bike later."

Daryl grunts, leaning to the side to keep the weight off his shoulder. "The battery's in bad condition but we shouldn't have much trouble driving back. Just keep an eye out for any warning lights on the dash."

"Got it." Maggie kicks the car into reverse to avoid the herd before pulling out of the parking lot. "You rest, now, so you can walk when we get back. Not carrying you out of the car."

"But-"

"Daryl." Maggie's tone brooks no argument. "Take a damn nap."

Daryl takes the damn nap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Daryl: nevermind I don't wanna take a nap  
> Maggie: good thing I brought some sedatives with me  
> Daryl: why the FUCK do you just have those lying around  
> Maggie: no reason :) now close your eyes  
> Daryl: jesus christ okay just put those back where you found them
> 
> Thanks for reading! If you have any questions or critiques, please feel free to leave them in the comments :)
> 
> I know I'm uploading these really slowly, sorry.
> 
> I love Maggie but I find her to be the hardest of the three to write.


	10. Some Assembly Required

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carl glances at Daryl. "You're not gonna help him?"
> 
> "Nah." Daryl fiddles with his knife; out of the corner of his eye, he watches Rick's face crumple as his latest attempt falls to pieces. "Not unless he asks. He was so determined to do this on his own, after all; would hate to rob him of that."
> 
> .
> 
> Rick tries to build a table. It goes about as well as you'd expect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompts: "Semicolon: a grammar tool used to join two related independent clauses which is famously tricky to perfect. What’s acting as a metaphorical semicolon in your work today by connecting two related but distinct ideas or events?" and "Time loop. How many loops can you get in a small writing space?"
> 
> Carl's really grown on me as the show progresses (technically I'm only on season 5 but I've gotten so many spoilers I basically know the whole show at this point) and I just want to see him being able to be a kid okay. I also wish we had gotten to see more bonding moments between Daryl and Carl in the show. This is set sometime around Season 5, but the timeline doesn't really matter. IKEA is a problem even during the apocalypse.

"This doesn't make any sense."

Daryl sighs, leaning back against the porch railing. _That makes three times Carl's said that in the past ten minutes._ "I know."

"I thought Dad told you he knew how to do this." Carl squints at his dad, who's currently wrestling with a pile of wood and screws in the front yard. "You said he specifically did _not_ want help."

"Don't ask me," Daryl mumbles. "I was just relayin' the message. He'd probably accept help now, if you're offerin'."

Carl glances at Daryl. "You're not gonna help him?"

"Nah." Daryl fiddles with his knife; out of the corner of his eye, he watches Rick's face crumple as his latest attempt falls to pieces. "Not unless he asks. He was so determined to do this on his own, after all; would hate to rob him of that."

"Sure, sure. And this wouldn't have anything to do him refusing to pass you the rolls until you said please the other week?" Carl easily dodges Daryl's swat, returning fire with a series of jabs to Daryl's ribs. They scuffle on the porch for a few minutes until Daryl manages to catch Carl in a headlock, holding him even as the kid tries to kick his knees.

"Hey!" The two of them glance up at Rick's shout, and Carl takes the chance to wriggle free. "Glad to see you two having fun, but would you mind joining in? The faster this gets done, the sooner we can get started on dinner."

"Not like I'm eatin' here tonight," Daryl grumbles, ignoring Carl's complaints. Raising his voice to a holler, he adds, "You sure, Rick? Looks like you've got things pretty under control. Thought you said you didn't need any help."

Rick pulls a face, glancing at the 'table' behind him; another piece of wood slips off and falls to the ground with a _thunk_. "Yeah, well, that was before I realized Glenn got this from IKEA. Look at these instructions; they don't make any sense, it's like there's a page missing or something!" He waves the heavily crumpled and penciled-in booklet in the air for emphasis. "It's physically impossible to build this with one set of hands."

"So you're asking for help?" Daryl clarifies. Rick hesitates, shooting a defeated glance at his son, then gives Daryl a small nod.

Carl smirks, before turning on his heel. "Well, I'd better get going. Chores, lot of chores, you two have this ha-"

"Oh no you don't." Daryl reaches back and snags the kid's sleeve. "Get your ass over here and lend your poor helpless father a hand."

"I heard that!"

"You were meant to!" Daryl turns back to Carl. "If I have to do this, so do you. 'sides, everyone's gotta assemble an IKEA thing once in their life, now's your chance to shine."

Carl gives Daryl an assessing once-over. " _You've_ built something from IKEA before?"

"Of course I--" Daryl pauses. That chair he'd bought years ago, hadn't that been from IKEA? Or was it from some other store? He can't quite remember.

Carl's grin has turned devious; he clearly knows what Daryl's thinking. "Guess you have to join us."

"Sorry kid, got shit to do. Carol, she uh, was bakin' today and told me I'd better join her." Daryl hops off the porch and Carl fucking _leaps_ onto his back, clinging on to him even as Daryl staggers underneath the weight. "Jesus, kid, you could've sent us both sprawlin'!"

"Was kinda hoping for that," Carl confesses, before stabbing Daryl's spine with his knees. "C'mon, you heard Dad, we don't have all day."

Daryl hooks his arms under the kid's legs and tugs him off his back, dropping him on top of the previously pristine decorative hedges by the porch. "Fine, I'll help, but you're _walkin_ '."

"Okay. Race you!" And before Daryl can respond, Carl's back on his feet and running across the yard. Daryl curses--how the hell does Carl have so much energy? He's supposedly been doing chores all day--before charging after him.

They end up knocking the table over once when Daryl starts another wrestling match, but they finish it with plenty of time to spare; that's good, because it's only once they've finished the thing that Rick realizes it can't fit through the door.

"Should've built it inside," Rick says with a groan. Daryl and Carl share an eye-roll behind his back. "Well, guess we have to take it apart and try again."

"Dad, come on!"

"Rick, you've gotta be shittin' me."

Luckily, they're able to force it through the back entrance after removing the door; Daryl decides not to point out the large chip that leaves on one of the table legs. Rick's struggled enough, and Daryl would rather not be stuck here until the sun sets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Michonne: What happened to the door  
> Rick: . . .  
> Michonne: Rick WHERE'S THE DOOR  
> Daryl: Right I'll be seein' y'all later goodbye now
> 
> *whispers* okay readers I'm gonna be honest with you I've never actually built anything from IKEA
> 
> Did I just go back and edit all my author's notes to have little memes at the end of each chapter because I was bored? Yes, sue me.


	11. Down the Block

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group's trying to find some medicine; sometimes the best plan is to split up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompts: "“Prose is architecture, not interior decoration.” (Hemingway) - In honor of this famously concise author, today we’re going to experiment by writing a scene entirely without internal thoughts and feeling. How evocative can you be when only describing the surroundings and events in your character’s POV?" and "The Seven Basic Plots: Which one does your story fit into? What if your story was told like one of the other plots? Write us a scene from this new version of the story."
> 
> This is really the only one I've written so far that I don't like; I don't dislike it either, just feel strongly neutral about it. Felt like it needed more expansion but couldn't really think of anything else that made sense with the prompts and wouldn't feel like filler.

"Any luck?" Rick asks, stuffing the last of the nonperishables into his bag. He can hear Carl rooting around in the bedrooms upstairs and knows Glenn's keeping an eye on the door, so that only leaves one person to check up on.

Maggie shakes her head and sets her full backpack down on the staircase before leaning against the railing. "Nah, just the basic medical supplies in the bathroom. We're out of luck unless Carl happens to find antibiotics hidden in someone's sock drawer."

"Damn it." Rick slings his back over his shoulder and waves at Glenn, who gives him a thumbs up. "You and Glenn see if there are any more houses not packed with walkers; I'll grab Carl and meet you outside. Don't go inside any of them without us."

Maggie slips out the front door and Rick trudges up the staircase. Carl meets him in the hallway and shakes his head at Rick's questioning glance.

"Think Daryl's group had it any better?" Carl asks as they make their way down the street. "The store might not have been completely emptied, and they might have found something else. It doesn't _have_ to be an antibiotic, right?"

Rick sighs. "I hope they did. As for the medicine, you'll have to ask Maggie; we'll take what we can get, but for an infection that fierce I think an antibiotic's going to be our best option."

Carl asks Maggie the same question when they reunite and gets a similar answer. They clear out three more houses--finding more food than they can carry and a somewhat terrifying porn stash hidden in someone's nightstand--but find nothing close to an antibiotic.

The walkie-talkie on Maggie's belt crackles as they're approaching another house and she tugs it free in an instant, holding it to her ear and gesturing for them to be quiet. "Please repeat, you're breaking up, over."

A moment of silence, then Daryl's voice comes through, garbled but still recognizable: "...said, we've got what we need and. . .camp, over."

"Oh thank god," Glenn breathes, the tension in his body easing slightly. Maggie's grinning into the radio as she responds, letting Daryl know that they're heading back too before returning it to her hip.

Carl elbows Rick in the ribs. "Told you he'd find something."

"Guess you did." Rick flicks his son's hat and gives his shoulder a pat instead of ruffling his hair like he normally would. "Guess you did."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maggie: Daryl, you're breaking up, what did you find? Over.  
> Daryl: I said I found the good kush, over.  
> Maggie: You're at the dollar store, how good can it be?


	12. Going Numb

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _We're gonna lose the prison. We're gonna lose everything._
> 
> .
> 
> The Governor attacks the prison. Beth takes things into her own hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompts: "The middle of a story supports the ends. Take a scene from the center of your canon and rewrite it in such a way that drastically changes what the characters would need to do next" and "Parentheses: used to indicate an aside or afterthought that, whilst not strictly related to the original point, might be useful or interesting. They’re more common in non-fiction, but they can still be interesting additions to a narrator’s POV in fics. Explore how your character’s POV changes with some parentheses. Alternatively, take this opportunity to let a bit-part character from your canon have their own time to shine!"
> 
> This has heavy spoilers for season 4 as well as a slightly graphic scene. I love Beth and have come up with many AUs involving her; this concept in particular is one that I would love to explore more in the future. Go BAMF!Beth, you can do it!

_We're gonna lose the prison. We're gonna lose everything._

Beth sprints across the courtyard, tossing another clip of ammo to her sister as their paths cross. Maggie whips around and goes back to firing at the Governor's men the instant the clip enters her gun, but Beth continues forward. She has a different target in mind.

The tank--yes, the Governor had gotten his hands on a tank, how was that thing even running--has easily crashed through the main set of fences, allowing enemy walkers and humans alike to come pouring through. Beth can make out several of the Governor's soldiers being dragged to the ground and torn to shreds amidst the chaos; in the past, the sight alone would have been enough to make her vomit, but right now she just feels a vindictive thrill.

_Hold on to that, anger is better than going numb._ Beth tells herself as she weaves around the edge of the battlefield. Several walkers reach for her through the remnants of the chain-link fence, and she stabs one before focusing on her target. _Don't freeze up, don't hesitate. It might not be too late._

She can see the Governor shouting orders to his men from the roof of a truck, and Michonne's hacking her way through a crowd of soldiers as she tries to go for him. Beth ignores them and rushes to the crumpled body on the ground. _Please don't be too late._

Beth knows he's gone even before she gets a clear look, but she still drops to her knees beside him and grabs his arm to feel for a pulse.

Hershel is dead. Instead of negotiating with Rick, the Governor chopped his head off (Beth can see a bloody trail in the grass but doesn't try to follow it with her gaze, choking on a sob even as she fights the urge to retch) and is now trying to destroy her home.

Beth's _sister_ is in there. Her brother-in-law, Judith, Daryl, everyone. She might not have been able to stop him from killing her father, but god forbid she let him murder the rest of her family.

Sucking in a breath, Beth lurches to her feet, snatching a pistol from a nearby corpse. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see Rick making his way across the battlefield, but she doesn't pay him any mind.

She has a family to save.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beth: *checks Hershel's pulse*  
> Beth: Daddy. Daddy? Daddy! Oh my fucking god he fucking dead
> 
> I _really_ want to expand on this one.


	13. Bear in Mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three gunshots sound, cutting Glenn off and startling them into drawing their weapons. A pause, another gunshot, then silence.
> 
> "That sounded like Rick's pistol," Daryl hisses, exchanging a look with Glenn.
> 
> .
> 
> A simple supply run takes a turn when Rick gets separated from the others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompts: "Write a scene that has a middle but no beginning or end, start and finish with sentence fragments." and "Write a scene that loops. The last sentence must logically lead back into the first one."
> 
> This is set during the season 3/4 gap but the timeline doesn't really matter. I was originally going to end it much earlier but decided not to leave it on a cliffhanger so please enjoy the extra 375 words :)

Daryl gives the truck one last shove before kicking at the tires and slumping against it with a muffled groan. He can hear Glenn cursing on the other side of the vehicle, the sound of his footsteps almost uncomfortably loud in the slick mud, and Daryl can't help but flinch when the door slams shut a bit too quickly.

"Hey, shut it," He hisses, running his fingers across the strap of his crossbow as he studies the nearby tree line. There are no walkers roaming the field they're currently stuck in, but who knows how many are lurking just out of sight in those woods.

"Sorry." Glenn hoists himself onto the hood of the truck, his legs dangling and heels tapping against the pitted metal as his gaze darts across the road. He seems to be doing everything he can to avoid looking at Daryl; it's confusing, but Daryl does his best to ignore it, because he doesn't have the energy to deal with anything else right now.

Several minutes pass with no sign of Rick and Glenn eventually hops to the ground and starts pacing again. At first Daryl doesn't really mind--looks like Glenn's keeping an eye out for trouble while he does it, and it's not like he's doing any harm--but Glenn's pinched expression is making something curl in Daryl's gut.

_Damn it._

When Glenn loops around the vehicle again, Daryl reaches out and catches him by the elbow; Glenn goes stiff as a board, which only serves to strengthen Daryl's feeling of unease, but he's still not actually _looking_ at Daryl.

"Hey." Daryl tugs Glenn over so that they're leaning against the truck shoulder-to-shoulder, even though his skin feels like it's burning at the contact. Glenn's always been a touchy-feely kinda guy; if Daryl wants to get his attention when he's this distracted by something, he's gonna have to speak Glenn's language, so he ignores the discomfort and pushes forward. "Rick'll circle back any minute, once he realizes we're not followin' him. What's got you all. . .this." He waves a hand at Glenn in explanation instead of trying to find a word that wouldn't be insulting.

Glenn leans into the contact briefly before twitching away again like he was startled, his hands moving to draw random patterns on the dusty truck. He hums, glancing at Daryl before returning his focus to the road. "I dunno, just. . .have a weird feeling about this."

"What, like somethin's wrong?" Daryl knows better than to question his own instincts, and he's grown to trust in Glenn's as well; if Glenn thinks there's a problem, he's probably right.

"I mean, it could be nothing, I've kinda got a lot going on in my head right now." Daryl finds himself wanting an explanation before realizing that might lead into an emotional-type conversation, which he is most definitely _not_ qualified for, so he keeps his mouth shut and lets Glenn finish. "But Rick shouldn't be taking this long. It's been at least ten minutes, there's no way he didn't notice we fell behind, so doesn't that mean something's wrong on his end too? Maybe he's stuck, should we go check?"

"Don't think we should leave the car, and what if he does come back and we're gone? He can't track for shit; no point in wanderin' off." Daryl grumbles, though he silently agrees with Glenn. Rick keeps an eye on everyone to an extent that could be considered overbearing; he should've shown up by now.

"But what-"

Three gunshots sound, cutting Glenn off and startling them into drawing their weapons. A pause, another gunshot, then silence.

"That sounded like Rick's pistol," Daryl hisses, exchanging a look with Glenn. The younger guy starts to head towards the sound but Daryl moves to block him.

"We do this, we're doin' it smart, okay? No charging in, no splitting up. Understood?" Daryl waits until he gets a nod from Glenn before stepping out of the way. They make their way down the road together, Glenn keeping an eye out behind them while Daryl maneuvers them through the woods.

When they finally reach the source of the gunshots, Daryl stops dead in his tracks and is nearly bowled over when Glenn collides with his back. There's a massive furry _something_ slumped against the car, and Rick's perched on the roof panting like he's been sprinting. His clothes are absolutely coated in a mix of mud and blood, and he's shaking so hard Daryl's surprised he hasn't toppled over.

"Rick? You good?" Daryl calls, inching towards the car. Rick gives a sharp nod before he slides off the car, nearly tumbling to the ground in his haste. He's hunched over slightly and grimacing but doesn't seem to be seriously injured. "What happened?"

"Oh my god." Glenn jumps away from the dead animal--which he'd gotten way too close to, they hadn't actually confirmed it was dead--and grabs onto Daryl's arm. "Oh my _god_ , that's a bear."

Daryl moves closer and _yep_ , it's a bear. A brown bear, too, no wonder it took Rick so many shots. "Nice work."

"How are you not dead? That thing is huge!" Glenn releases Daryl and offers Rick his shoulder as support. "Did it get you? What happened?"

"Got lucky," Rick huffs, letting Glenn lean him against the car. "Hopped out of the car to listen for your engine, it came out of nowhere. Whacked me and pinned me against the car, I'd be surprised if my ribs are in one piece. I thought bears were supposed to be scared of people?"

"This one's not quite full-grown, probably never seen a human before. Might've thought you were a walker that happened to smell like fresh meat." Daryl gives the bear another once-over before shoving it off the car; it takes a few tries, but he manages to get it out of the way. "Get in; our car's stuck, we can come back for it. You need to get your chest looked at."

"They get _larger_ than that?" Glenn pales when Daryl nods. "Nope, no way, never going into the woods again."

Daryl starts the car and they climb in; Glenn tries to help Rick with his seatbelt but the ex-cop refuses to put it on, grumbling that if he wore it while Daryl drove his ribs would just end up even more sore. They drive off with no trouble, and Rick slumps over with a sigh.

"This was not how I thought today would go."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rick, recounting the incident to Hershel: And this is how the bear came at me from the woods  
> *Glenn throws a cardboard bear cutout at Rick*


	14. Your Chest Lit Up (Daryl/Glenn/Maggie)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's movement by the fire and Glenn turns to look, but Maggie cups a hand under his chin to hold him still. "Keep looking at me, okay?"
> 
> .
> 
> Glenn gets injured trying to keep his family safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompts: "The last thing a character sees before canon ends or before they die." and "Escalating Stakes. We’re nearing the end, which usually means things get tenser than ever. For example, no longer just fighting the villain, the hero must now save the world! Think about the stakes in your story, whether they’re world-ending stakes or just your character’s personal stake in the action, write their reaction when something changes those stakes."
> 
> This doesn't really fit in the canon timeline so please ignore the fact that this scene with these characters could never actually happen :) This features the Glenn/Daryl/Maggie polyship.

"Hold on, we've got you."

Glenn groans, trying to sit up, but someone grabs his shoulder and forces him back down. He squirms and raises his hands to claw at his attacker but can't find the energy to do more than weakly shove at them. "Get off," he says, or tries to anyway; it comes out as an unintelligible grunt.

Someone starts running their fingers through his hair and Glenn twitches at the contact. "Carol, keep his legs still, I've got his head. We need to do this quickly. Glenn, can you hear me?"

_Oh_. Glenn knows that voice, it's Maggie. If she's here that must mean the fight's over, so Glenn stops struggling. He opens his eyes, squinting at the human shapes silhouetted by a decent-sized fire, trying and failing to make out any recognizable features. _Is that Daryl or Paul sitting next to me?_ He's pretty sure it's Daryl, because it looks like Paul's doing something by the fire.

"Glenn?" Right, Maggie was asking him something. Glenn tilts his head back--she's put it on her lap so he doesn't have to use leaves as a pillow, that's so sweet--and meets her eyes. They're almost glowing in the firelight, green like. . .like. . .her last name's Greene, and her eyes are green, that's a coincidence. They're also very pretty.

She smiles at him and he realizes those are tear tracks on her face. _She's been crying? No, shit, not okay._ Glenn tries to lift a hand and rest it on her cheek but misses and has to settle for patting her neck. "'s okay, I'm right here."

"Yes you are." There's movement by the fire and Glenn turns to look, but Maggie cups a hand under his chin to hold him still. "Keep looking at me, okay?"

He can hear three people talking by his feet--one of them sounds like Daryl and he wants to look and make sure he's okay but Maggie's holding him still so he _can't_. They're talking about bleeding, which means someone's hurt, and knowing Daryl it's probably him.

Glenn blindly reaches out with his right hand, patting the ground a few times before he finds a jean-clad knee and grabs on to it. A pair of hands immediately takes a hold of his and Glenn lets out a sigh of relief because he'd know those hands anywhere. _Daryl_. "What, what'd you do? You're hurt?"

"No, no, I'm fine," Daryl says, stroking Glenn's hand with his thumb. "Maggie's fine, we all are. Took care of those crazy bastards pretty easily once you blew up the walkers."

Glenn hums, tilting his head to the side now that Maggie's loosened her hold on him. It's hard to tell in the dim light, but Daryl doesn't look hurt. There's someone else's blood on his face and his eyes are shining with tears, though, so Glenn tries to sit up and reach for his face.

Something in his side _pulls_ and it's like he lit a fire in his gut. Glenn lets out a choked scream and loses everything for a second; when he comes back to his body, Maggie's got his head cradled on her lap again and Daryl's got a hold of his wrists.

"If we're doing this, we have to do it _now_." Maggie hisses, and Paul (maybe Rick?) moves forward, holding something glowing. Glenn instinctively recoils, but he's being held down by three people and can't pull away.

He's panting, whole body trembling as hands tug at his shirt until it's bunched up over his ribcage. Maggie's talking to him, stroking his hair and face, but he can't focus on her because someone pushes something made of cloth into his mouth until he bites down. Glenn tries to spit it out even though Maggie stops him because he needs to _breathe-_

"Glenn. Glenn!" Maggie barks, startling him into going still as he meets her gaze. "Calm down, it's just us. We need to cauterize your wound, that's why we're holding you still, okay? You know everyone here, we're just trying to stop the bleeding."

Glenn lets out a panicked whine through the gag, because he _hurts_ and she looks so very scared. He needs to talk to her, figure out what's going on and let her know everything's going to be okay.

"He's really out of it, I think we're just gonna have to do it." Daryl says as he adjusts his hold on Glenn's wrists. Glenn considers trying to pull free but decides against it because Daryl's hands are nice and warm against his skin. The air is hot but his body feels cold, which isn't right but he can't quite remember why.

There's a sudden pressure against his side and his world _explodes_. Glenn wails through his gag, back arching as he does his best to twist free. The hands keep holding him down and there's nothing he can do to escape from the searing pain.

.

He must have blacked out again, because between one blink and the next the sky has gotten a bit lighter and the intense burning in his side has been taken away. It still hurts, but it's more of a constant throbbing than anything else. His gag is gone, but the inside of his mouth tastes like blood.

"Maggie?" Glenn tries to push himself up onto his elbows, but his arms give out and he has to lie back down. She's not holding him on her lap anymore and he can't see her or Daryl. _Where are they?_

Glenn startles at the sound of footsteps right next to him, preparing to lash out before he recognizes the soft tread.

"She's getting the truck set up so we can take you back," Daryl explains, kneeling beside Glenn. "Of course you wake up the one time she's out of sight."

"You're here, 's okay," Glenn mumbles before turning to the side and trying to spit the metal taste out of his mouth. Daryl passes him a water bottle and Glenn gulps it down, only stopping when he chokes and Daryl takes it away. "No one's hurt?"

Darl shakes his head. "Just you. Can't believe you went kamikaze on us, dumbass." Even though it sounds like Daryl's trying to make a joke, Glenn can easily recognize the tightness in Daryl's voice. _He was really scared._

"Wasn't trying to, the explosives were stronger than I expected." Glenn squints up at Daryl; the man looks like he's about to keel over and Glenn can see where tears have cut their way through the dried blood all over his face. "How's Maggie?"

"Looking like she wants to shoot you and strangle Paul." Glenn huffs out a laugh and Daryl's face softens. "Not a joke. She was mad that I let you go off alone, but when she realized it was Paul's idea I thought I might have to cover up a murder."

Daryl's expression turns sheepish, then. "I might've punched him when he explained what you were trying to do. Then he said that he was supposed to be going with you and we realized that you had snuck off. What the hell were you thinking?"

"I was thinking we didn't have time to waste coming up with a complicated plan. If I hadn't gone ahead, the walkers would have caught you on the road." Glenn says, tilting his chin up and matching Daryl's scowl. "Wasn't going to let you two get killed."

"Can't believe your self-sacrificing dumbass," Daryl snarls, reaching forward like he wants to shove at Glenn's shoulder before he stops himself. "Pull shit like that again and I'll break your nose."

"I very much doubt that. You think my face is too pretty to punch." Daryl blushes and Glenn grins. "Also, the first time you gave me a hickey you felt really guilty about leaving a bruise; I think you physically would not be able to hit me."

"Don't push it or you'll find out," Daryl growls, but he's smiling now, which is exactly what Glenn wanted. The red flush painting his neck is just an added bonus.

The sound of a car engine approaches and Daryl stands, giving Glenn's hand a squeeze as he does so. "We're gonna get you home and to the doctor just fine, okay? Don't do this again."

"No promises," Glenn says. When Daryl shoots him a _look_ , Glenn adds, "I would do this again in a heartbeat if it had even a chance of saving your lives. I love you both too much to lose you."

"Yeah, well, we feel the same." Daryl sighs, scrubbing a hand over his face. "At least promise you won't run off alone like this again. We're a team, the three of us, and we need to watch each other's backs."

"Okay, I can promise that. The same goes for you, though; you can't pull any self-sacrificing one-man missions either, got it?" Glenn hisses. When Daryl nods, Glenn gives him a thumbs-up. "Great. Love you."

Daryl gives Glenn a soft smile. "Love you too. Now sit up so I can bridal carry your ass into the car."

Glenn barks out a laugh, which hurts, but it's totally worth it since Daryl quickly joins in. _We're gonna be okay._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Glenn: Mothertrucker dude, that hurt like a buttcheek on a stick  
> Paul:. . .I think we need to ease up on his meds a bit  
> Maggie: Oh no that's how he always is
> 
> The next chapter is a direct sequel to this one!


	15. Fireworks In Your Skin (Daryl/Glenn/Maggie)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daryl follows them to the doctor and listens in for a bit, but he takes the opportunity to leave as soon as he's sure Glenn's going to be okay.
> 
> They'll be fine without him for now.
> 
> .
> 
> Daryl's certain that Glenn's injury is his fault; he deals with that guilt the same way he always does.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompts: "Pyrrhic Victory. Victory always comes at a price, and sometimes that price is rather steep. Write about the unexpected cost of one of your character's victories." and "Denouement. After the climax, some things are still unexplained... Most famously used in mysteries where the detective explains how they solved the case, but a denouement can happen in any story where some loose ends remain at the end. Pick such a loose end to explain to your own characters, or, to have your characters explain."
> 
> This takes place immediately after the previous chapter (Your Chest Lit Up). This features the Glenn/Daryl/Maggie polyship and doesn't really fit in the canon timeline.

"Hey, shit, watch the door!"

Daryl grimaces, stepping back and shifting Glenn in his arms as he tries to figure out how to get him into the truck. The man's clinging to his front and doing his best to take up as little space as he can, but it's proving near impossible to get him into the backseat without jarring his injuries too much.

Paul--Daryl refuses to call him Jesus, what kind of a shitty nickname is that--frowns at them as he circles the truck. "We might have to try setting him in the bed of the truck."

Maggie bristles at that, moving between them and glaring at Paul like he's the one who hurt Glenn (to be fair, it kinda is his fault, but Daryl knows better than to deal with that now). "No way. He'll get jostled around too much. We just stopped the bleeding, and we're already taking enough of a risk moving him considering we don't know what's going on internally. The backseat has to happen."

"I'm fine with wherever," Glenn mumbles, drawing everyone's attention. "But can we please hurry this up? I would _really_ like to get some painkillers in my system."

Paul studies Daryl for a moment before opening the passenger door. "I'm going to fold this seat down as far as it can go. Maggie, maybe if you're in the backseat Daryl can try passing him to you so he doesn't fall."

Maggie climbs into the truck and scoots over so there's plenty of room while Paul collapses the front seat and opens the door as wide as he can. "Try now."

It takes some fancy maneuvering and quite a lot of cursing, but Daryl eventually manages to get Glenn situated in the backseat without pulling his wound open. _Fucking finally_ , Daryl wants to crow, but he's too wiped to feel anything more than a sense of relief.

He moves to join Carol in the truck bed--she'd hopped in there to keep watch while they figured out the whole loading situation--but Glenn catches his wrist and instantly brings him to a halt. "What?"

"Can you stay with us? Please," Glenn adds when Daryl twitches under his grip. "I'd feel better if you both were where I could see you."

Daryl didn't want to admit it, but he was feeling the same way. It's not as if Glenn would keel over the instant he left Daryl's sight, especially not with Maggie keeping an eye on him, but leaving him felt _wrong_ , somehow. It didn't matter, though; Daryl wasn't going to take Maggie's place, not when she'd earned her spot with Glenn many times more than he had. She deserved to be here with her husband, not Daryl. Especially since it was probably his fault Glenn blew himself up.

"Not enough room for all three of us back there." He says by way of an explanation. Glenn starts to protest, but Daryl shuts the door and clambers into the back of the truck, waving his hand to signal for Paul to start driving.

The drive home feels like it takes longer than it should, even though Daryl knows Paul's driving as fast as he can. Carol spends the ride with Daryl's hands clasped tightly between her own; she can read him better than anyone (even Glenn), so even though Daryl hasn't said anything she can probably easily tell how worried he is.

"Hey," she says when the truck finally arrives at Hilltop, grabbing Daryl's arm before he can jump out. "You've done everything you can. The rest is out of your hands, so don't go blaming yourself for any of this."

Daryl just grunts in response before exiting the truck and keeping an eye on his partners as Rick shows up and helps carry Glenn. Daryl follows them to the doctor and listens in for a bit, but he takes the opportunity to leave as soon as he's sure Glenn's going to be okay.

They'll be fine without him for now.

.

Maggie finds him a few hours later.

Daryl sees her coming down the road from his perch in the watchtower and considers trying to make a break for it, but he knows she'd just find a way to track him down. Might at well get this done now instead of putting it off for an hour and embarrassing himself in the process.

She climbs up the ladder and knocks on the trapdoor, opening it when Daryl bites out a reluctant invitation, before leaning against the opposite wall and staring at him. Daryl shifts his weight and wishes he had stood up before she'd entered, because now he's stuck sitting on the floor.

The thing is, Maggie does look pissed, but it's clearly not her "mamma bear protecting family" kind of anger, which means Daryl's misreading the situation again. Considering how she'd railed against Paul for letting Glenn sneak away earlier, he'd been expecting a similar scolding for his part in the plan, but he can tell she isn't here to yell at him.

Not knowing what she wants or why she's here only serves to make him more nervous, though. Daryl squints at her before turning his scrutiny back to the floor; it's hard to meet her gaze for long when it's burning with this much emotion. He glances up again when she starts pacing, running her fingers along the wall as she moves with a restless energy she rarely exhibits. It's normal for Daryl to keep in motion when he's angry, and Glenn physically can't sit in one place when he's anxious about something, but Maggie's usually still.

Finally, she sighs. Her voice is faint when she speaks; there's no undercurrent of anger, just exhaustion and something that feels like disappointment. "He almost died, Daryl."

"I know." Daryl wants to growl the words, wants to defend himself, but she's not mad so he just mutters them instead. Seeing her like this is somehow worse than her being furious with him--he almost wishes she'd yell at him, at least he'd know how to react to that--and the guilty feeling in his gut only strengthens. _She has every right to be pissed at me. Why isn't she?_

Maggie goes still, her hands going limp against the wall; the only movement comes from her face, which is shifting between a myriad of expressions that Daryl struggles to piece together. Eventually she seems to settle on frustration, if the pinched skin between her eyebrows is anything to go by, and Daryl tenses in preparation. She's never been _actually_ mad at him before; they've had disagreements and pissed each other off plenty of times, but nothing that ended up being too serious, so he has no idea how intense this is going to be.

"I just cannot _believe_ him," Maggie eventually hisses, sliding down until she's seated with her back to the wall. "Charging off like that without a second thought, as if his safety was less important than ours. He's smart, he really is, but it's moments like this that I understand why you like to call him a dumbass."

 _What_. Daryl can't do anything except frown at her, because she's once again blindsided him. _What the fuck, why is she telling me she's mad at Glenn. I'm upset with him too but she's supposed to be pissed with me._ After a moment he just hums in response, because he does agree with what she's saying about Glenn.

"I suppose that's also one of the things I love about him, but he can't pull stuff like this, especially now that we aren't on the road and living day-to-day anymore. We have a safe place now, and he doesn't have to put his life on the line constantly." Maggie tilts her head back and gives Daryl an appraising look; he squirms underneath her scrutiny. "The same goes for you. Glenn mentioned the discussion you had in the woods right before his painkillers kicked in, which reminded me that you also have reckless, self-sacrificing tendencies."

"I do not," Daryl shoots back, but he's lying and she most definitely is aware of that. "'sides, I told him I'd try to do better about that if he promised to do the same."

"Then why did you run off as soon as you knew he wasn't going to keel over? I had to chase you down; you should've been with us. Why?"

Daryl flinches, picking at his thumbnail while he memorizes the pattern of the floorboards. "Figured you might not want me there."

Maggie blinks at him; she looks so startled by what he just said that Daryl feels even more ashamed of himself for thinking it in the first place. "What?"

"You were mad at Paul for not stopping Glenn from running off, but it's my fault he had the chance to in the first place." Maggie still looks confused, and Daryl wonders if she just didn't know this part of the story. "Glenn wasn't supposed to be paired up with Paul; I was. Glenn offered to switch with me since he knew I'd work better with you, and I took him up on that. If I hadn't-"

"You've gotta be kidding me," Maggie blurts out, running a hand through her hair. "It's not _your_ fault Glenn decided to come up with a new plan. Technically it's not Paul's fault either, but he gave Glenn the idea in the first place, so of _course_ I'm upset with him for that. You weren't even there, how was this your fault?"

"Exactly! I should have been there!" Daryl rises to his feet; Maggie matches the movement, staring him down, but he keeps going. "I shouldn't have left him alone with someone I hardly know just so I wouldn't have to work with a stranger."

"If that's the case, then what about me? I did the exact same things as you. I didn't object to the change in plans, didn't tell either of you it was a bad idea to switch things around last-minute. Are you mad at me for that?" She says it like a statement of fact, not an accusation; she already knows the answer.

Daryl falters, then, because she's right. He hadn't even _considered_ being mad at her, just jumped straight to blaming himself. "Oh."

"Yeah, oh." Maggie lets out an exasperated huff. She doesn't look smug about being right; if anything, she just looks more tired. "Really wish we had some kind of therapist around here."

"I don't need a fuckin' shrink," Daryl scoffs.

"Okay, well, I do. We could all probably benefit from one, to be honest." Maggie stares off into the distance for a moment before shaking her head and holding a hand out. "I'll tackle that another day. C'mon, let's go see Glenn."

Daryl takes her hand and follows her without hesitation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Daryl, hiding in the watchtower: Oh hi, thanks for checking in I'm still a piece of garbage.  
> Maggie: I'm not gonna just sit here and listen to you insult someone I love  
> Daryl: I'm not insulting Glenn though?  
> Maggie: omfg how dense can you be


	16. It'll Last Longer (Daryl/Glenn/Maggie)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Glenn studies the piece of paper; on it, he finds one sentence written in Maggie's trademark scrawl.
> 
> _Come and find me. ___
> 
> __._ _
> 
> __Maggie has a surprise for Glenn._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompts: "Ellipses: used to indicate an omission of words (eg, in non-fiction, quoting different parts of the same source) or, in fiction, sometimes… trailing off… pausing… I wonder - are your characters omitting anything important today?" and "Write a pair of scenes as correspondence."
> 
> This one was fun, sweet fluff that I enjoyed. This features the Glenn/Daryl/Maggie polyship (focuses on Glenn/Maggie but I couldn't help slipping Daryl in there) and is somewhere in the season 3/4 gap. Only two chapters left after this!

Maggie's keeping a secret.

Glenn hasn't figured out what it is yet, but he's pretty sure it has to do with the supply run she went on a few days ago. She hasn't been avoiding him, exactly, but since she got back it's become clear that she's trying _not_ to tell him something. Whenever he asks her about the run, she brushes his questions off and disappears.

Maggie's normally great at keeping secrets, which means this must be a surprise; she's honestly not that great at keeping him from figuring out that she's planning one. She always gets excited and can't help grinning, although to be fair she still does a better job at keeping something a mystery than Glenn. Once, before the apocalypse, he accidentally gave a birthday party planning sheet to the person the surprise party was for.

The thing is that while Glenn figured out pretty quickly that Maggie has something planned, he has no idea _what_ she's working on. She's kept her mouth shut and hasn't left anything suspicious lying around, which leaves Glenn without any clues. He's not desperate enough to ask Beth if she knows anything; after all, he enjoys surprises, even if his curiosity makes it impossible not to investigate.

Suffice to say, when Glenn returns to their bedroom after taking a shower only to find it empty, he's not exactly shocked. A bit disappointed, maybe; he'd been guarding the fence all day while Maggie worked on the ditches, so they hadn't been able to see each other much throughout the day and he was hoping to spend some time with her tonight.

Then he notices the note on the pillow.

Glenn picks it up, feeling a roiling mix of emotions in his gut. Could something be wrong? Is that why she isn't here? Once he spots the messy scribble of a heart on the folded piece of paper, that panic is instantly replaced with a rush of affection. _This must have something to do with her surprise._

When he unfolds the note, what looks like a piece of paper torn from a magazine tumbles onto the bed. Glenn leaves it there for the moment and studies the piece of paper; on it, he finds one sentence written in Maggie's trademark scrawl.

_Come and find me._

Oh this is going to be _fun_.

.

The extra piece of paper turns out to be a page of an advertisement for some breakfast diner; Maggie's drawn a little smiley face next to the cup of coffee on the table. It's a pretty straightforward clue, so Glenn sticks the note in his pocket and takes off for the kitchen.

Unless he's missed something obvious, the note has to be referring to the ancient coffee machine Glenn brought back to the prison during one of his earlier runs. It's doesn't turn on properly half the time, but when it does work it makes a pretty decent cup of coffee, and Maggie in particular has taken a shine to the old thing. Of _course_ she'd hide a clue by it.

Carol's in the kitchen when Glenn enters, but she just gives him a knowing smile before going back to the dishes. He waves at her, wondering if she'd seen Maggie in here earlier, before making a beeline for the coffee machine. It's not long before he finds a blue post-it note tucked underneath the cord.

This note doesn't have any writing, just an arrow drawn smack-dab in the middle of it. At first Glenn wonders if it's supposed to be pointing somewhere--was he not supposed to pick up the note?--but then he takes a closer look and realizes it looks just like the arrows a certain hunter here uses.

Of course she got Daryl involved in this. The question is, how long has he known what she's been up to? How long has he been working with Maggie in secret to get this surprise done? Glenn wants to smile just thinking about them debating where to set up these clues; those two make him feel like the luckiest man in the world.

It takes Glenn longer than expected to find Daryl; he wasn't in his perch and there was no sign of him in the courtyard, but during a quick glance into the dining room Glenn sees him sitting on one of the tables.

When he spots Glenn, a shit-eating grin slips onto his face. "Took you long enough."

Glenn strides over and sticks the post-it to Daryl's chest, or tries to anyway; Daryl easily blocks it with an arm and the note peels off his skin and starts fluttering to the floor. Daryl catches it with one hand and puts it on Glenn's forehead before he can dodge out of the way. "Better hurry before you lose the daylight. She's waitin' on you."

"I'm supposed to get a clue from you," Glenn grumbles, tugging the post-it off his face before shoving it in his pocket. He raises an eyebrow when Daryl doesn't so much as twitch. "C'mon, hand it over."

Daryl rolls his eyes, making a show out of checking his vest pockets before passing a crumpled piece of paper to Glenn. This note's written in Daryl's handwriting, which is neater than Maggie's (to be fair, that's a pretty low bar), and it has a little cowboy hat drawn on it.

_Alright, dumbass, this should be pretty simple. She loves them, you try to pretend they don't scare you but it's obvious they intimidate you._

Glenn gives Daryl a _look_ but the man doesn't even seem slightly cowed by it. "Okay, really? _I'm_ not the one afraid of horses here, don't pull that shit with me."

"Hey, I ain't scared of 'em, I just dislike 'em. There's a difference." Daryl snatches the note back and crushes it into a ball. "You freeze up whenever one so much as glances at you."

"To be fair, their eyes are kinda freaky." Plus, Glenn doesn't like being around something that could stomp him into the ground for walking behind it. "But that's more of a case of me respecting them because I don't want to be murdered. You're actually _scared_ of them."

"Ain't," Daryl grouses, folding his arms across his chest. "Now get a move on."

"I seem to remember you having a _very_ strong reaction when Flame popped her head over the stall door last week." Glenn easily avoids the swipe Daryl aims in his direction and hightails it out of there, not even trying to hold in his laughter.

The makeshift stables aren't far, and Glenn finds a piece of paper taped to the door as soon as he gets there. It's in Maggie's handwriting and doesn't have any kind of riddle; it just directs him to the watchtower.

Glenn makes it there in record time.

Maggie's already inside, of course; he knocks before entering, just in case, but she calls him in and he enters to find her curled up in their nest of blankets and reading a book. She raises an eyebrow at him, slipping a bookmark in between the pages before setting the book aside. "I was wondering if I was gonna have to go lookin' for you."

"C'mon, I didn't take that long." In the end, Glenn had spent about thirty minutes searching once he found the first note, but from the looks of it Maggie's been hanging out here for quite a bit longer than that. "There was a line for the shower; I'd consider that a reasonable delay."

Maggie scoots to the side and Glenn flops down beside her, rolling over to press a kiss against her cheek. She tilts her head towards him and he catches her lips instead, letting out a quiet groan when she deepens the kiss and slips her hands underneath his shirt.

They lie there for a few minutes, Maggie tracing her fingers along Glenn's ribs as he holds her face and continues to kiss her. Eventually, she pulls away, huffing out a little laugh when he tries to follow her. "I have a surprise for you."

Glenn pushes himself up onto his elbows to watch as she pulls something out of a bag in the corner of the room. "Really? I thought this was the surprise."

"What, spending the night in the tower? Give me a little more credit than that." Maggie passes a box to Glenn; she'd even managed to scrounge up some wrapping paper, though Glenn can't help grinning at the ridiculous Halloween-themed pattern. "Found this on a run, thought you might like it."

Glenn opens the package slowly, taking care not to rip the paper. The box is rather light, and he honestly has no clue what it could be. Is it something more practical, or just a fun gift?

Turns out, it's a camera.

Glenn flips it over, studying it; it's similar to a Polaroid, one of the cameras that prints out pictures and hardly even needs batteries. Maggie shifts anxiously beside him, probably waiting for him to say something, but he's dumbstruck.

"What do you think?" Maggie finally asks, sitting down next to him. "I know it's nothing big, but I thought we might find a use for it."

"It's perfect." Glenn spends a moment fiddling with it--there's already some film in it, awesome--before lifting it up and snapping a photo of Maggie's face. A startled laugh slips from her mouth and she shoves at his shoulder in retaliation while he shakes the picture.

"Don't look so surprised, what else was I gonna take a picture of? You're the prettiest thing for miles around." Glenn says, handing the picture over to her once it seems to be finished developing. She lets out another chuckle when she sees it.

"Oh my god, I look ridiculous."

Glenn sprawls across her lap, taking the picture from her and tilting it from side to side. "Hmm, doesn't look that way to me. I'll be taking pictures of you every day though, so I'm sure there'll be some that you like."

Maggie lets out a groan but she's clearly fighting a smile. "Please don't make me regret this. 'sides, you never know, Daryl might get jealous."

"Oh don't worry, I'll be taking plenty of pictures of him too." Glenn sits up and hooks an arm around her neck, pulling her down into a kiss. She follows the motion, carding her fingers through his hair as he lets out a pleased hum.

They make sure to move the camera out of the way before they really get started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rick: Guys I need to use the watchtower, are you decent?  
> Maggie: Shit, Glenn, act casual.  
> Glenn, panicking: Welcome to Bible Study. We're all children of Jesus... Kumbaya my looordd.


	17. Pig's Feet and Privacy (Daryl/Beth)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beth smiles so widely that her stitched cheek begins to ache. "It's wonderful."
> 
> Daryl's face reddens and he turns his gaze to the ground.
> 
> .
> 
> Grady messed a lot of things up for Beth. She's determined not to let it mess up her relationship with Daryl, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompts: "Architecture: Taj Mahal. This beautiful building is famously symmetrical. What kind of symmetry can you work into your story today? Alternatively, what kind of shenanigans might the characters in your story get up to by visiting some kind of in-universe palace?" and "Completed Framing Device - for example, when a character says, "I should write a book about this!", or the closing part of the story returns to the framing device at the beginning. Time to return to your framing device as they complete the story, exploring an angle you didn't take last time. Or... just writing the sassy narrator's closing lines."
> 
> Wait, a ship that isn't my OT3? Yep, I'm a multishipper, especially when it comes to Daryl. I can see him getting alone with most characters in canon, even if I do have my favorite ships for him. While this was intended to be pre-Daryl/Beth, it can be read as platonic. 
> 
> It's a season 5 AU where Beth lives. I struggled to express Beth's thoughts the way I wanted to but this was great practice! She went through some trauma at Grady and I'm trying to figure out how much she would share and how much she'd keep to herself to avoid "burdening everyone." Would love to continue this AU.

"What do you think?"

Beth takes her time studying the place, running her fingers along the couch cushions before coming to a stop in the middle of the sunlit room. She slowly turns back to face Daryl--he's shifting uncomfortably in the open doorway, looking so out of place in a house like this even though she knows he deserves it more than anyone--and smiles so widely that her stitched cheek begins to ache. "It's wonderful."

Daryl's face reddens and he turns his gaze to the ground. "Not like I set it up or anything; didn't even pick the house. Thank Aaron for that." He scuffs the tip of his boot against the fancy wooden floorboards, then glances back up at her. "We should pick our rooms, get dibs before Maggie'n the rest of 'em show up."

"I wanna check out the kitchen first." Beth makes her way across the living room and steps into the kitchen, certain that Daryl's tailing her even though she can't hear him; ever since their reunion at Grady, he's been loathe to let her out of his sight and has practically become her shadow. Not that she's complaining, of course. There's no one she'd trust more than Daryl Dixon to watch her back.

To be honest, Beth had worried that Daryl was going to pull away from her once they'd found their family; after all, he wouldn't be obligated to take care of her anymore, so why would he want to stay by her side when he clearly preferred being on his own? She felt like they had made a connection while traveling together, and he obviously cared about her (she's forgotten a lot about Grady, but one thing that stuck with her was how hard he was shaking when she held him), but Beth _knows_ she's dead weight. She wouldn't have blamed him for ditching her once she was under her sister's care.

Her fears had been quickly put to rest; if anything, Daryl became more overbearingly protective of her once Beth was rescued from Grady. He was always there, hovering by her side and standing up for her when her headaches prevented her from getting a word in edgewise. She did the same, trailing him when he tried distancing himself from the group and helping him find a place here, in Alexandria. It was obvious the folks here were hesitant to trust him; Beth knew she provided a kind of counterbalance to his gruffness, so she made sure to tag along whenever he needed to meet with anyone.

They really were a perfect team.

"Oh!" Beth lets out a laugh, pulling a jar of peanut butter from the pantry. "Can't wait to eat enough of this to glue my mouth shut. You dipped pigs' feet in this stuff back at the funeral home, right?"

Daryl grunts, studying the cabinets before taking the peanut butter when she passes it to him. "Yup. Doubt they have any of those here, though--place is too fancy for that--but maybe we can find crackers or somethin'."

"I'd say we're too fancy for this place, not the other way around." Beth spreads her arms and gives a little twirl before gesturing to the muddy footprints she's already ended up tracking throughout the house. "Look, we're already redecorating! A fashion sense way ahead of our time, I'm tellin' you."

"I'm fancy, huh?" Saying that, he makes a point to keep eye contact as he scoops out some peanut butter with his finger and sticks it in his mouth, purposefully making what most be the grossest noises he can as he eats it. Beth lets out a disgusted groan and slaps at his shoulder before stealing the jar back.

"There are spoons in that drawer, Daryl, gosh." Opening the drawer reveals that there are, in fact, no spoons to be seen. He smirks at her and she rolls her eyes before snatching a fingerful of peanut butter for herself from the jar. "C'mon, you said you wanted to check out the upstairs?"

They take their time climbing the stairs--Beth doesn't miss how he's studying the place, so she doesn't complain when he instinctively takes the lead like they're investigating unfamiliar terrain. It feels weird walking around a house that they haven't cleared yet, even though they both know there aren't any walkers here, and if this makes him feel better about it she's not going to stop him.

There are two bedrooms upstairs in addition to a decent-sized office; the master bedroom should probably go to Maggie and Glenn, so Beth moves to put her stuff in the spare room. It seems like there's only one bathroom in the building, but Beth's so grateful to have running water in the first place that she doesn't care that it'll have to be shared between four people. Once they figure out a schedule it shouldn't be a problem.

Beth sets her pack on a chair and sits down to tug off her boots, but pauses when Daryl retreats from the room without a word. She frowns, waiting for a second in case he heard something suspicious, then rises to a stand and follows him.

She keeps her footsteps quiet (well, as best as she can on old wooden flooring with her shoes untied) and pauses in the hallway, checking both ways before stepping out into the open and heading towards the office, where she can hear him moving around. Her instincts are telling her to check over her shoulder and pull a knife, but she forces herself to relax; if something was wrong, Daryl would've signaled her or something. He wouldn't have left her without a plan if he thought there was danger. Plus, he's not really making an effort to keep quiet as he walks around, when she knows he can easily tread silently if the situation calls for it.

Beth taps her knuckles on the doorframe before she rounds the corner; there's no way Daryl didn't hear her approach, but she might as well be polite. "Maggie and Glenn'll probably be here soon," she says. "Do you- what are you doing?"

Daryl doesn't look at her, choosing to keep messing with the couch that's pressed against the far wall. It doesn't take long before he's managed to get it to unfold and turn into a decent-sized bed. Beth hadn't even realized this couch could do that. "Oh! I wonder if any of the ones downstairs can be used as beds too. It'd make it easier to have people over for the night."

"I could check," Daryl offers, but Beth shrugs, because it's not really something they need to worry about. "You need help unpackin' or somethin'?"

Beth shakes her head, wincing slightly when that sets her headache off again. "No, I was just wondering what you were up to. Didn't think there was anything. . ." She trails off, having spotted his bag and crossbow are set up in the corner of the room; it doesn't take long for her to put two and two together. _Oh_.

Daryl frowns at her, pausing his work as he studies her face. She tries to keep her expression neutral, but he must have spotted something because his hands go tense against the mattress. "What?"

"Nothing, it's- nevermind." Beth takes a step back into the hall, hoping that the heat she can feel creeping up her neck isn't visible. _Stupid, clinging to him like a lost child._ "I'm just gonna finish unpacking."

"Wait." Daryl starts towards her before pausing, his hand twitching at his side. He's looking for something in her body language, Beth can tell, but she has no clue what. Is he waiting for her permission for something, or is he just unsure what to say?

Eventually he turns his gaze away and asks, "Is this a, uh, Grady thing?"

_Ah_. That, she'd learned, was how he always referred to her 'side effects' from her time at Grady; most of them were obvious, like her headaches, but her treatment there had left her with more than just physical scars. It gave her an easy out, a way to say she wasn't feeling well without having to share the details, and it let him ask what was wrong without really having to _ask_. She both appreciated the gesture and hated that he always seemed to avoid even _thinking_ about what had really happened there.

Maggie knows (Beth thinks that she would've picked up on it even if they hadn't talked, because she'd been through something similar enough) and Carol's put some pieces together, but the rest of the group seems to have missed that her being shot wasn't the only problem with that place. They know it was corrupt, that the cops in charge held a sense of entitlement and felt like she'd owed them, but Beth hadn't expanded on that so her group hadn't asked.

Actually, come to think of it, she's pretty sure Carl and Rick might have figured part of it out too. Carl, she'd noticed, had stuck by her side during her first few weeks back in a way that felt protective and almost personal (hadn't Daryl said something about those Claimers threatening Carl in a way that made Rick lose his cool?), and Rick had clearly noticed how edgy she'd been around him. He hadn't commented on it, but he'd made sure to leave her some space after the first time she'd flinched away from his touch.

So yes, Grady had messed with her, but that doesn't mean Daryl should assume that every single one of her problems was related to it. "No," she says; when he doesn't ask anything else, she turns and leaves.

He follows her, of course, but Beth ignores him and kicks her boots off as soon as she gets back to her room. She's not going to spoon-feed him answers; if he wants to know what's bothering her, he should actually _ask_ instead of hovering and hoping it'll go away.

"Beth." And that isn't fair, because she can't ignore her name coming from his mouth, so she turns back to face him even as something inside of her chest _aches_. "'m sorry, just. . .what's wrong?"

"Grady didn't _ruin_ me, Daryl." She growls, tugging her bag open. "It didn't cause every single one of my problems, so stop acting like it's the answer to everything I'm upset about."

He blinks at her; not taken aback by her outburst, just considering. "Okay," he says slowly. "Then what is the problem?"

Her face burns. "It's nothing."

"Girl, if you want me to ask, you need to give me somethin' to work-"

"I just thought you were going to be staying in here, okay? That's all. Not all big deal." Beth waits for him to scoff at her, because it was a ridiculous assumption, but he just looks confused.

"Figured you'd want the room to yourself," Daryl mumbles. "Now that we have a safe place and all, we don't have to room together, thought you might like your privacy or whatever."

He looks so, so lost that Beth feels bad for snapping at him, because he'd just been trying to make her feel comfortable. Their relationship was built on being stuck on the wilderness together; now that they're back in civilization, of course it's going to take some time to figure out their boundaries.

"You can share with me, if you want," Beth says, setting her bag down. "Or you can stay in the office. Whichever you'd prefer. I'm fine with either."

"Your sister wouldn't mind?"

Beth smiles. "I doubt it." It's not like she and Daryl are together or anything; they'd just be sleeping in the same room. Maggie shouldn't have a problem with it.

Daryl gives her a sharp nod, then disappears again. Beth gets to work unpacking and has nearly finished by the time he returns with his bag and crossbow slung over his shoulder. Working together, it doesn't take long to get the room set up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maggie: and they were roommates  
> Glenn: oh my god they were roommates
> 
> One chapter left!


	18. Still a Kid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daryl squints down at Carl, trying to figure out what the kid's up to. "Somethin' wrong?"
> 
> Carl shakes his head fast; too fast for Daryl's liking. _The kid's definitely up to something._
> 
> .
> 
> Carl might be mature for his age, but that doesn't mean he gets into any less trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompts: "A final good-bye. Whether they’re leaving at the end of the school year or someone is dying, have your character tell someone farewell." and "The Adventure Continues... It's the last day of our prompts, but it's not the last you'll see of us. We're going to be back tomorrow with another Monthly Challenge for August and the prompts will always be here if you want to go back to them. What adventures are your characters having after their story is concluded?"
> 
> A short and sweet one to wrap it up. Canon timeline doesn't really matter but somewhere around season 6. Let Carl get into trouble! He's still a kid after all.

"Daryl, hold up!"

Daryl turns, nearly jumping out of his skin when Carl comes skidding to a halt right in front of him. "Jesus, kid, watch where you're runnin'!"

"Sorry." The kid doesn't look sorry; he's panting like he'd been sprinting for a good bit, but he's grinning in the self-satisfied way that he does whenever he avoids getting into trouble. "I was worried you'd already left."

"Nah, still have some shit to grab before I'm ready to head out." Daryl squints down at Carl, trying to figure out what the kid's up to. "Why, somethin' wrong?"

Carl shakes his head fast; too fast for Daryl's liking. _The kid's definitely up to something._ "Nope! Just wondering if I could, uh tag along with you."

"I'm goin' on a hunt." Daryl says this slowly, staring at Carl in confusion because _what in the fuck._ "I always do those alone. Why the hell do you wanna come along this time?"

Carl shifts his weight back and forth, peeking up at Daryl from underneath the brim of his hat. "Well, you could always use a second set of hands, right? Plus you did promise to teach me how to hunt. You-"

"There you are!" Glenn's voice rings out across the courtyard; he's clearly spotted them, and he looks annoyed, which is rare for him. _Damn it, is he gonna think I'm an accomplice to whatever this kid's done?_ "Carl, what the hell?"

Carl yelps and ducks behind Daryl, taking advantage of the hunter's height. "Please don't tell him I'm here!"

"You're way too fuckin' late, kid, he's already seen you." Sure enough, Glenn's making his way over. "The hell did you do?"

"Nothing, I don't know! I didn't think it was a big deal!" Carl tries to scurry off but Daryl catches his arm and holds him in place. "C'mon, Daryl, seriously?"

"I'm not gettin' tied up in your shit," Daryl grumbles, moving to stand behind Carl and keep him in place. The kid sighs and slumps against him, seemingly resigned to his fate, but Daryl knows better than to let go of him.

Glenn comes to a stop in front of them and lets out a sigh before throwing his hands in the air. "Mind explaining to me why I had to spend the past two hours chasing down the horses?"

"Um. . ." Carl glances to Daryl for help, but Daryl just stares back at him. _Not helpin' you out, kid_. "Maggie said it was okay for me to ride them."

"There's a difference between riding them around the pen and trying to jump the fence. You're lucky neither of you ended up with a broken leg! Plus you knocked over part of the fence, which led to the other two horses getting out. You could've at least told us what happened and helped out instead of running off and leaving me behind to clean up your mess!"

"I was trying to find someone to help, but by the time I did you guys already had it handled."

The two of them stare at each other; Glenn clearly unsure how to continue and Carl unwilling to back down. Finally Daryl takes pity on the man and claps a hand on Carl's shoulder. "Don't worry about it, Glenn. I'll handle this."

Glenn shoots Daryl a thankful glance before heading off, no doubt to explain the whole situation to Maggie. Daryl doesn't envy him.

"Thank god." Carl lets out a relieved huff, grinning up at Daryl. "Hey, thanks for covering for me."

"Oh I wasn't coverin' for you, kid." Carl stiffens underneath Daryl's hand; he probably recognizes that tone. "When I get back from my hunt, you're helpin' me clean _all_ of my kills."

Carl groans, kicking at the ground. "I don't even get to come with you?"

"Nope. See you in a few hours." Daryl levels the kid with a scowl. "You don't show up, I tell Rick."

Carl matches Daryl's glare--the kid's able to pull it off easily even though he's down an eye--before throwing his hands up. "Fine. Fine!"

Daryl's gonna have his hands full this evening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Carl: Sleep? I don't know about sleep...it's summertime  
> Rick: You ain't go to bed?  
> Carl: Oh, he caught me
> 
> This is finally complete!  
> What's next, you may ask? I have a couple of stories for Whumptober (I was gonna do the whole prompt list but I don't have time so I just did two) that I can look forward to. I've also been dipping my toes into another fandom, so I may post some fics for that; if I do, that doesn't mean I'm done writing TWD fics! I'm still very much invested in these characters.
> 
> Thank you everyone for reading <3


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